


Lily's Secret

by BigJellyMonster (orphan_account)



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Adoption, Creature Fic, Creature Harry Potter, Creature Inheritance, Hurt/Comfort, Naga, Other, Past Child Abuse, Snakes, creature - Freeform, father - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-16 23:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 34,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2287688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/BigJellyMonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abandoned by his friends after his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Harry has to figure out how to survive on his own. Whether it's learning new spells, or finding out why he suddenly has fangs, Harry in in for another rough year. Father Fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How Do You Like Them Apples?

**Author's Note:**

> I am moving this over from Fanfiction.net  
> I am also updating a lot of the chapters that i have already written, so expect more soon.  
> If you have any questions i am on my tumblr at bigjellymonster o  
> Please tell me what you think, or if i need to change anything!

"I didn't put my name in that goblet!" said Harry, starting to feel angry.

"Yeah, okay," said Ron, in exactly the same special tone as Cedric. "Only you said this morning you'd have done it last night, and no one would've seen you…. I'm not stupid you know."

"You're doing a really good impression of it," Harry snapped.

"Yeah?" said Ron, and there was no trace of a grin, forced or otherwise, on his face now. "You want to get to bed, Harry. I expect you'll need to be up early tomorrow for a photo-call or something."

He wrenched the hangings shut around his four-poster, leaving Harry standing there by the door, staring at the dark red velvet curtains, now hiding one of the few people he had been sure would believe him.

The next day was a game of Hide and Seek for Harry. In the morning he found that Ron had already left. Harry thought that he wouldn’t still be in a sour mood like he was last night but it seems that he was wrong. He dressed quickly and went downstairs to look around for Hermione hoping that at least she would be waiting for him but, she was nowhere to be seen.

He walked quickly out the portrait and towards the Great Hall. It was hard not to notice all of the other students pointing at him, and whispering behind to their hands to their friends.

"Cheater…."

"I can't believe Gryffindor actually gets to compete!"

"How do you think he did it?"

“I can’t believe someone from Gryffindor is going to be in the tournament!”

"He won't even last ten seconds…."

Harry entered the Great Hall, his eyes skimming the tables in search of his friends….well Hermione, at the least. He spotted her sitting a little too close to Ron. He tried to catch her eye for a second, but it seemed that she was either ignoring him, or she was really interested in whatever Ron was saying.

Ron looked up from his conversation with Hermione and spotted him across the room. One glare from him told Harry all he needed. He wasn’t welcome at the Gryffindor table at the moment. Hurt and suddenly not all that hungry anymore, Harry realized that it wasn’t a good idea to be in the great hall. His pride was too big to let him eat breakfast alone.

"Hi, Harry!" The Dennis Creevey was beckoning him over to where he was sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"Err... hey, Dennis..." he shifted his feet, a little uncomfortable with their stares, along with everyone else in the room, except Ron. He had turned his back to him to ignore him completely.

"I just wanted to know if you would eat with me? It’s so cool how you snuck into the tournament. That was so brave! Like a true Gryffindor!”

Quick to think up any excuse to leave the noisy room altogether, Harry replied "Um, no, that's alright. I was going to the library, so I was just going to get something to eat real quick…" He reached for an apple sitting in a basket on the table. "But, I'll see you later I guess." It wasn’t that he didn’t like Dennis; he just couldn’t handle his energy at the moment. He dashed out of the room ignoring the Dennis’ attempts to call him back.

He eventually found himself on the edge of the black lake, cold air flowing off its waters. There were only a few people outside. Usually he would be sitting in the Great Hall or the common room, chatting away with Ron about some impossible Quidditch move they wanted to try out, while Hermione tried to get them to do the homework that they have neglected. But that seemed to be no longer an option anymore. How was he supposed to deal with the tournament if he didn’t have his friends beside him? He never dealt with anything major like this without at least one of them by his side.

He hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Hermione yet. He didn't even know if she believed him or not. During the party Gryffindor threw after the drawing of the names, Harry was so busy with trying to get away from everyone or to tell them that he didn’t do it, that he never got a chance to really talk to Hermione. He would have gladly pushed all of the attention to Ron if that’s what he wanted, but he had ran off to the boys dormitory to sulk. Of course, no one wanted to believe him when he said he didn't put his name in. All they wanted was to pat him on the back and give him their congratulations. No one wanted to hear that he could be in danger, or that someone probably wanted him dead….

He sat at the edge of the lake until his stomach started growling. Remembering the apple he took from the Great Hall, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled it out, taking a bite.

"Who needs him anyway," Harry thought. "If he can't stand by me right now then he's not even a true friend." He didn’t really believe that. Ron was the first real friend he ever had. Harry didn't think he would have even been able to survive this far if Ron wasn't there with him. Maybe if he just waited until all of this blew over..."OW!"

Harry had bit down into his apple when his teeth felt like they were stabbing the inside of his mouth. He looked down at the apple and saw a few drops of blood on it. "What the hell…" he whispered. He started feeling his teeth to see what was wrong. What surprised him was that two of his teeth on the side top of his mouth had started to wiggle. One of them was almost completely out.

He knew he had already lost all of his baby teeth, and even though he forgot to brush his teeth every now and again he knew this wasn't supposed to happen. Not wanting to look like a little kid waiting for the tooth fairy, he threw the now bloody apple into the lake, and headed inside for the infirmary. Students had started to crowd the halls, and not really wanting to be seen, he ducked behind corners, and went through every secret passage he knew to get there.

Reaching the infirmary, Harry opened the door and was met with the loudest screeching noise he had ever heard in his life, and that's saying something. He had Petunia for an aunt.

Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were arguing at each other from across the room.

"Potter!" Professor McGonagall suddenly said "What are you doing here? I'm afraid if it's not an emergency I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"But Professor…." He tried.

"Mr. Potter, I have a very ill student that Madam Pomfrey needs to devote all her attention to. So, unless you are oozing your brains out through your ears, you can come back later!" And shut the door to the infirmary in his face.

It took Harry a second to get over his shock. What the hell was going on to that kid to make him thrown out of the infirmary? Madam Pomfery had never allowed any student to be thrown out of the infirmary, no matter how small they were hurt. Whatever was happening it must be big.

"But when am I supposed to come back," He grumbled to himself. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. Hermione's parents were dentists. Maybe she knew a little about what was wrong with his teeth.

Harry went to the library first, thinking that it was the easiest place to start looking for her. What he found instead, was Crabbe and Goyle huddled around a shaded corner of the library. “Well that’s something you don’t see every day,” he thought.

He eventually found her sitting under a tree with Ron in the Transfiguration courtyard. Harry really didn't want to talk to Ron right now. But, he couldn’t walk around looking like a toothless lunatic. So, gathering up all the Gryffindor courage he could muster, Harry walked over to them. Ron spotted him first, and pointed him out to Hermione. She just looked at him and then down at her hands, trying to look at anywhere but him.

When he finally reached them, and wanting to get the awkward over with he said "Hey Hermione," she didn't look up from her hands "could you help me with something?"

"She doesn't need to help you with anything Potter so leave her alone" Ron spoke with hate and a glare to match.

“I think Hermione can answer for herself." He couldn’t believe that Ron was so angry at him that he wouldn’t even use his first name. Why was he acting like this? Did the last three years together mean nothing to him?

"I…. um..." Hermione still didn't look up. She was still staring at her hands as they were the most interesting book she had ever picked up. It dawned on him, the way she didn't look at him in the Great Hall, not waiting for him in the Common Room….

"You don't believe me do you" Harry said flatly.

She lifted her head as if she finally got some courage. "No it’s not that…Well… you are reckless Harry, and you were talking just the other day about how you'd sneak your name in...And I just can’t support you in this Harry. What if something happened to you?"

"Everyone else in the bloody school was talking about sneaking their way in! So, was RON!” This was not happening. They were not turning their backs on him. This was all a bad dream.

"Well, his name didn't come out of the goblet, did it?" Hermione answered. Ron had a superior look on his face; he finally was someone's favorite. Hermione was looking at Harry as though she were trying to make him understand with just the look in her eyes. Harry….well He just didn't want to break down and scream at them. From the corner of his eyes he could see a small crowd of students, watching the whole exchange, waiting to see what he'd do, and then promptly tell their friends about it later.

“Ron couldn’t have thought of a way to do it on his own anyway,” he said darkly. “He would need to have his dear mummy hold his hand and do it for him.”

“You shut the hell up Potter,” he shouted while getting in Harry’s face. “My family has done nothing but take care of you since you got to the wizarding world and you know it.”

“Is betraying me, and talking behind my back considered helping me, Ron? Last time I checked a real Weasley wouldn’t do that.”

“URGH!” Ron lunged at Harry and pushed them both onto the ground. Ron began punching every inch of him that he could reach. “You ungrateful bastard! We’ve done everything for you and this is how you repay us?”

Hermione screamed “Ron stop it!” Harry had his arms covering his face to protect himself. The crowd around them began cheering them on. Ron eventually punched him hard in the mouth and Harry tasted blood.

“What the hell is going on here?!” Professor Snape was walking quickly over to the crowd. “Get out of the way. Get out of the way! Weasley, get off of Potter this instant!” Ron scrambled off of him. “Fighting in the middle of a courtyard? That is idiotic even for you two.”

“But sir-“

“Silence, Weasley” Snape snapped.

Harry stood up and spit the blood out of this mouth, along with two of his teeth. “Well isn’t this fantastic,” Harry thought bitterly.

“Detention for the both of you, and an essay with twelve reasons why what you two buffoons did here today was completely idiotic.” Snape looked down at Harry and saw the teeth missing from his mouth. “You’ll have to wait at least until tomorrow to go to the infirmary,” Snape told him. “You’ll just have to suck it up and put some ice on it until then I’m afraid.”

Snape walked away from the still excited crowd barking, “Don’t you all have studying to do?”

Harry ran in the opposite direction of where Snape walked off. Calls of “Scared Potter,” chased after him until he was out of their sight. He didn't know where he was going; all he knew was that he had to get away. It felt like he was doing a lot of running and hiding today. He ducked into an abandoned classroom, and doing his best to find a good place to sit away from the door so no one would see him if they looked directly in.

He felt like he was just doing a big repeat of his life before Hogwarts. Running and hiding from everyone that hated him, from the teachers that didn't believe him. Asking him questions he couldn’t answer. Like “Why didn’t you do your homework?”, “Where did you get that bruise?,” “Why do keep forgetting your lunch Harry?” Of course if he ever answered those questions in a way that put suspicion on his relatives… Harry shuttered.

He never forgot his lunch; it was kind of hard to forget about food when you are hungry all the time… his cousin took it from him every day. When he complained about it to his aunt she called him an “ungrateful little liar,” and locked him in his cupboard. Without his dinner of course. He hated how skinny he was. To many forgotten lunched would do that to a kid.

He sat in the abandoned classroom practicing spells, ignoring the still present pain in his teeth, or drawing on the dusty floor until dinner. The only reason he even left was because his stomach started growling obnoxiously loud he was so hungry. He figured that he could just go into the kitchen to avoid the stares from the other students.

Of course it never really is that easy for him. Harry thought there must be someone somewhere, just trying to screw with his life for a good laugh. Just as he turned a corner, there walked Draco in the opposite direction he was heading in.

“Heard that Weasley gave you a beating Potter. Is it true? Oh my mistake you still have blood running down your chin. Guess that answers my question,” Draco laughed.

“Sod off Malfoy,” Harry said as he walked past him on his way to the kitchens.

“You know you might want to get that cleaned up before the rest of the school sees the evidence of Weasley beating the shit out of you.”

After getting food from the kitchens and chatting with a very worried Dobby, Harry quickly made his way back to the Boy’s Dormitory before anyone else could spot him.

Harry stepped inside the bathroom attached to the 4th year boys' dorm room and locked the door. He went to the Mirror and looked at the damage that Ron did to his face. His eye was starring to swell at the bottom and his mouth looked like it was done bleeding. He lifted up his top lip and his eyes widened at what he saw.

 

He was missing two of his teeth. He was going to have to go to classes tomorrow alone, and toothless. As if he didn't get taunted enough already! Not wanting to look at his troubles anymore. Harry quickly showered and crawled into bed, and pulled the curtains hanging from the sides.

About an hour later, Harry could hear Seamus and Dean talking as they walked into the dorm "I can't believe he actually ate the WHOLE thing."

"Shhh, Seamus, be quiet. Harry is sleeping."

"I don't give a flying fuck if he can hear me. The cheating bastards done enough damage for anyone not to care, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess. Do you think it's true though? Do you think he really did it?"

"Of course he did. He was probably mad that he wasn't getting all the attention now that the other schools are here. Ever since he came to this school there is always something going on that revolves around him."

"Yeah, poor Ron though right? I mean he's been his friend all this time. How could you just lie to your friend like that? I mean everyone knows he did it. But to just lie to his face like that?"

He heard Seamus laughing "Yeah, but the tournament is supposed to be really deadly. I mean, did you see Ron beat the tar out of him? He didn’t even fight back! He is probably going to go to the first task with a white flag attached to his back.”

“I guess so. What about the other Champions? What do you think about Cedric?”

Harry stopped listening after that.

It was hard to think that the very people who he considered his friends not too long ago had so quickly changed their opinion of him seemingly overnight. He couldn’t tell who had been his friend for his fame or who had been his friend for him. The line was almost nonexistent to him at the moment. The only person who didn’t seem to change his attitude toward him today was Malfoy. Even Snape could have been harsher towards him when he found him and Ron fighting. No, Ron just beating the shit out of him.

Harry didn’t understand what made Ron hate him so much all of a sudden. And Hermione just standing there and not actively doing anything to stop him. That wasn’t like her at all. Harry didn’t want to think about his messed up problems right at the moment. He turned over on his mattress, and tried as best he could to fall asleep, hoping for better things tomorrow.


	2. Snape Bite

Harry woke the next morning with a splitting headache. He almost didn't even want to go to classes that day, but seeing as he had potions first, and his detention with Snape in the afternoon. He thought that it would probably be a good idea to face the day. Harry pulled back the curtains and the sun hit directly in his eyes making him momentarily blind. "Wait a minute…" he thought. He looked around his dorm. No one was in there with him, he had expected as much, his dorm mates probably wanted to get away from him before he woke up.

He looked down at the clock next to his bed. Someone had turned off his alarm. That would mean "OH SHIT!" he shouted. He was definitely going to be late for potions. Harry raced to change out of his pajamas and into his school uniform. Grabbing his bag he was sure he was forgetting something.

There was something he was supposed to be worried about today. He was really distressed over it last night. The fight with Malfoy, and his punishment from Snape popped into his head. He groaned as he walked back into the bathroom, deciding that wasting thirty seconds wasn't going to really be a problem considering the fact that Snape was going to yell at him no matter what he did.

When he looked he was expecting to see a huge black eye and two missing teeth on the exact opposite sides of his mouth. Instead, he got his normal face. Nothing was out of the ordinary. He looked closer at his teeth, they looked a little sharper, but other than that, it was like nothing ever happened.

Deciding to deal with this later, Harry started running down to the potions lab. When he got close he tried slowing down, as to catch his breath. Stopping in front of the door, He took a deep breath and walked in. Every eye turned to him and he caught a few smirks from both the Slytherins, and the Gryffindors. Ron and Hermione hadn't even turned around to acknowledge his presence.

"Mr. Potter," Snape said from the front of the class. "How nice of you to finally grace us with your presence. Twenty points from Gryffindor." A collection of groans could be heard from the right side of the room. He went to the only empty seat beside Neville. His potion smelled like dead rats, and looked like it was about to crawl out of the cauldron it was so terrible.

He had to sit there for the remainder of the class and try to help Neville keep his cauldron from melting. It was nowhere near presentable, but he was just glad that neither one of them had gotten seriously injured. Snape had been walking around the room checking on their progress when he stopped at their table.

"This is a disgrace to wizards everywhere, but I'd expect no more of you two." He waved his wand and the potion vanished. "Mr. Potter, I'll see you after class." He walked away leaving the two boys with another failing grade.

"Sorry, Harry" Neville said quietly. "I'll try to do better next time, honest"

"Don't waste your breath Longbottom," Malfoy said from across the room. "You're better off on your own. From what I hear Harry cheats to get whatever he wants. Of course that might actually help you. Just be careful he doesn't get you in trouble."

Neville didn't respond; he was too shy and embarrassed to say anything. The sad part was, Harry didn't expect any more from him. Everyone else was turning their back on him. Why not Neville too? The bell rang, signaling the end of the class and students started filing out of the room. One student managed to walk by his desk and knock his ink well and potions textbook to the floor. That, alone, brought a collection of laughter from around the room.

As the last student had left, Harry was able to reach down and grab his now ink soaked potions textbook, and ink well from off the floor. Harry didn't know any good spells to fix his potions book, and he was becoming too wary of the people around him to ask for any help.

"Just as irresponsible and messy as your father," Snape said with his usual sneer from across the room. "Get over here, Potter, and sit down." Harry slowly made his way to the chair directly across from his Potions professor. "And you seem to be just as daft as he was. Tell me, Potter, what did I say about fixing your teeth?"

"Oh, no," Harry thought. It wasn't his fault! He didn't even do anything, it just happened overnight! It's like that time all of his hair grew back after his aunt shaved him bald for school. His aunt didn't believe him when he said he didn't know how it happened. Harry had a feeling that Snape wouldn't believe him either, so he kept his mouth shut.

"You had gotten into a fight with another student, and you deserve proper punishment. But, you think you are above the rules, don't you, Mr. Potter" Harry just stared at him. "DON'T YOU, Mr. Potter." Harry looked down at his hands. They were balled into a fist, shaking.

Snape had come out from behind his desk to face Harry. "You know, I always knew you were dimwitted, Potter, but these last few days have proved to me that you are more suicidal than anything. Sneaking your name into the Goblet, getting into a Muggle fight three against one—two of which are ten times your size," Harry still hadn't moved. "There are people out there who are trying to protect you Potter. And you disregard their help as if it were trash. Does somebody else need to die for you to see that- LOOK AT ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU!"

As Snape shouted that last sentence at him, he grabbed Harry's chin forcefully so he would have to look at him, but, before he could even think about what he was doing, Harry moved his head quickly and bit as hard as he could into Snape’s hand, leaving a large mark and oozing blood. Whether Snape yelled from pain or shock, Harry never found out.

He took off, managing to grab his stuff on the way, and raced out of the dungeons to his next class. He had Transfiguration next, he was already late because of Snape, and he didn't want to stop to ask for a pass. Plus, he figured if he had another teacher around, Snape wouldn't try to kill him with the stunt that he just pulled.

"You're late, Mr. Potter, ten points from Gryffindor." Professor McGonagall said as he entered the class room "take a seat" He found an empty desk at the back of the class, surrounded by his classmates whose vicious glares accompanied his belated arrival. Great.

As McGonagall began speaking, Harry pulled out his notebook and began copying what was on the board trying desperately to ignore the whispering of his classmates.

"That's almost two hundred points he lost us in two days!"

"I can't believe he even has the guts to show his face today."

"I believe I'll wait until you are all done talking. Seeing as how whatever it is you all have to say is much more important than today's lesson." The Professor said in her no-nonsense voice. The class immediately grew quiet, and a few students shot him a few looks that said "This is your fault."

Harry kept one eye on the door at all times, expecting Snape to break it down and curse him within an inch of his life. A few minutes before the bell rang, the door opened, with a loud BANG making Harry jump a foot out of his chair, and bringing laughter throughout the class. "Professor, Professor come quick!" a Slytherin student he didn't know said, "It's Professor Snape! He's hurt really bad! We think he is poisoned! We tried doing everything we could to help him but nothing is working!" Nobody in the history of Hogwarts had ever seen the old woman run so fast.

The classroom was left in silence as they processed what had just taken place. Snape had been poisoned, probably by one of his own potions. The class started chatting away excitedly about the irony of their most hated professor.

Nothing of importance happened until later that day. Harry had been keeping his head down, avoiding the stares and taunts of the other students, keeping quiet, and not speaking unless asked a direct question by his teachers. But, what had happened to Snape? When he had left the dungeons he was fine. Unless you count the bite he gave him. He got his answer going back to his dorm room after dinner, that night. Neville came up to him just as he was about to go up the stairs.

"Hey, Harry. I have a note here for you from Professor McGonagall," He said sadly, as he held out a piece of parchment for Harry to take. Neville didn’t look so well. His hair was in a mess, and he looked as if he had just eaten a bad lunch. Just as Neville turned to leave Harry stopped him.

"Hold on a sec," Neville stopped and looked around at him. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s I’m worried about Collin.” He looked around making sure they weren’t overheard. “He got sick really fast. He was in the hospital all day yesterday, and again today. Madam Pomfrey doesn’t know what’s wrong with him. None of the teachers do…” They were quiet for a few moments.

“Hey can I ask you something,” Harry asked hopefully. Neville just nodded.

“Do you know what happened to Snape?" he asked as quietly as he could, as not to scare the boy away. It had been bugging him all day. There were rumors going around school that he had just fell into one of his own potions by mistake, another where harry himself had pushed him into the cauldron. But, he had never heard the truth yet.

"You haven't heard?" Neville inquired doubtfully.

Harry shook his head.

"He got bit on his hand by a snake. A really big one. He is in the Hospital Wing. Unconscious. They haven't found the snake yet, so people are scared it's still in the school." Neville quickly walked off, as if afraid to speak to him anymore.

"A snake... on the hand?" he thought to himself as he entered the boys' dorm. "Poisoned?" He walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. He got as he dared without getting cross-eyed to view the teeth that had appeared overnight. They hadn't changed from before. They were still a little sharp, but nothing to cause that much damage. He pushed up one of his new teeth from behind and gasped. It got longer, sharper, like when he messed with Crookshank's claws when he sat on his lap.

"This is not happening, this is not happening to me. No, no, no, no, no…" he muttered to himself. He couldn't tell anybody about this. If anyone found out, they'd hate him even more. They'd call him a freak among freaks, and who would help him? Everyone already thinks he lied about the tournament. No, he had to keep this to himself. He'd figure out what was wrong with him all on his own. He didn't need anybody's aid.

He quickly took a shower and went straight to his bed to do his homework. Remembering the note Neville gave him. He took it out and read.

Mr. Potter,

Due to recent events, your detention will be rescheduled for next Monday.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Great more things to worry about. He had forgotten about his detention with Snape, and his headache from that morning was beginning to come back. After finishing his homework, harry shut the curtains and crawled completely into bed. He didn't have classed until noon tomorrow, so he planned on going to the library to look up what was wrong with him.

"Poisoned…" he thought. Neville had said that Snape had been poisoned. Did he do that too? Was he really poisonous? He was lost in his own thoughts as Seamus ripped open his bed curtains with a strange look on his face.

"Good job getting back at Snape, Potter. Just don't send it after any of us normal people next time. We all know it was you." Harry just stared at him with a shocked look on his face.

"Wha-what are you talking about?" he managed to get out after a few seconds.

"We all know you are a Parselmouth, so don't play dumb. Plus, you were the last person that was seen with Snape before he was attacked. There is no other explanation."

Harry's headache was just getting worse and worse by this point. He got out of bed to Stand in front of Seamus, a sudden look of fury on his face. "Look, you little shit, I didn't put my name in the cup, and as much as I would have loved to have been the one to poison Snape, I didn't. He was perfectly fine when I left. So you better get your facts straight or get some proof. Otherwise you will find yourself on the other end of your little lie. So, shut your mouth and LEAVE ME THE BLOODY HELL ALONE!" He knew it was a half lie, but he wasn't going to tell any of them that.

Seamus had backed up into his own bed, and was trembling head to foot. The other boys weren't any better. Harry just climbed back into bed and spoke in a normal voice. "I'm going to bed, and I suggest you all do the same," and reclosed his curtains.

After he calmed down, all Harry thought was, "What is WRONG with me? I have never threatened anyone like that." He did notice that his headache had gone away. He hoped that it wouldn't be coming back any time soon. With everything that has been going on lately, he couldn't help but think that his life was only going to get worse from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am currently editing this story. I have up to chapter 8 written on fanfiction.net but i am currently fixing it. so things will get a little crazy. please leave a comment and tell me what you think!


	3. It's a Flesh Wound

This was hopeless! He had been searching for a week and nothing! The only thing he had even come close to comparing his condition with was a vampire, and he did not remember being bitten within the last few days, nor did he start burning in the sun.

He tried looking up something about snake related traits in humans, and the only thing that did was briefly tell him about Salazar Slytherin's, and the Dark Lord Voldemort's, Parseltongue ability saying it was dark and evil magic, and that only the worst sorts of wizards were able to use it.

His fangs were bothering him all the time now. Every time someone would taunt him or make him the slightest bit angry, he would feel them grow longer, and it took every bit of self-restraint not to open his mouth and say something back, or someone might see them.

Those "Potter Stinks" badges weren't helping him either—he was a little happy to note that he didn't see Ron and Hermione wear one but, that could just mean that they were hiding them. Malfoy made a show of offering anyone a free badge every time he found Harry within earshot.

Finding no real information in the book he was holding, he sighed and put it back on the shelf in the library and left. He had about an hour to kill before heading to charms class, so he decided to go see Hagrid.

When the old hut came into view, Harry saw the large man standing next to one of the Blast-Ended Skrewts holding a bucket with some kind of purple goo in it. Hagrid noticed his approach, and turned to greet him. "'arry! What bringsya over 'ere?"

"Oh, you know… I had a little while before class, and I thought I'd just see what you were up to."

Hagrid, always eager to talk about creatures, said eagerly, "Well, with that snake attack on Professor Snape, I just wanted ter make sure that these li'tle ones were protected. See this?" He held out the bucket of purple goo. "It's my own makin', keeps them other animals way from 'em. This stuff gets on yer skin, and it bothers 'em like nothin' else. Can't do much else, not bein' able ter use magic an' all. Don't have ter worry about the Skrewts' though, only puttin' it on their shells."

Harry wasn't very worried about the Skrewts. They looked they could rip his legs off if they really wanted to.

"So, you wanna help?"

"Err…" Well, he had nothing better to do. "Sure Hagrid."

Hagrid passed him the bucked with the strange goo and pointed him in the direction of, thankfully, one of the smaller Skrewts.

"Uh, Hagrid," He looked up from the bucket "Do I need gloves for this?" Hagrid let out a small laugh.

"Na, just be careful not to get any on yer clothes."

 

Harry rolled up his sleeves and carefully stepped closer to the giant animal. From what he could tell the thing was sleeping, or at least he was hoping that's what it was doing. After he dipped his hand into the bucket, the goo only made his hands feel a little tingly so he didn't see it as too harmful. He raised his hands and slowly put it onto the giant shell. The creature twitched his front claw making Harry jump back in fright. After a few moments making sure that he wasn't about to be blasted to bits, he resumed putting the goo into its shell.

Nothing too exciting happened after that. It was actually unexpectedly peaceful working with them. Well, as peaceful as it gets when you're worried of getting a fireball to the face. But, there weren't any students or teachers around to mock him when they thought he wasn't looking.

Harry heard Hagrid come up behind him later "Well done 'arry! Yer a natural at this, y'u are." Harry couldn't help the small smile creep up on his face at his words.

"Thanks Hagrid," Hagrid handed him a slightly dirty hand towel.

"You better clean up and head onto yer next class. Thanks fer helpin' me out today, yer welcome to do it ag'in anytime." He patted him on the shoulder with his large hands and walked towards his hut.

Harry used the towel to get as much of the goo off as he could, and walked towards the school. Occasionally, he would rub his hands on the inside of his robe, it was an old one anyway and he didn't want his hands to keep tingling from the purple goo.

Nearing a bathroom, he quickly ducked in and went to the sink to wash his hands. He put his hands under the water and started scrubbing….and scrubbing…and scrubbing. Whatever that stuff was, the feeling of that slimy goo was not coming off. If he didn't hurry, then he was going to be late for charms, and he was already late twice yesterday. At least he couldn't see any purple on his hands.

Making his way into the classroom just as the bell rung, he found a seat hidden at the back of the class, hopefully making it so that no one would really notice him. Professor Flitwick had already stepped into his podium and started speaking. "Welcome, all, back to class. Today we are going to learn a new charm, the Summoning charm to be exact. Now everyone take out your wands …"

The goal was to use the charm to summon a pillow towards them from across the room. Focusing on one directly from him, he muttered "Accio," and his pillow twitched. He continued doing this but would stop every couple of minutes to try and scratch away the tingling feeling still in his hands.

"Accio, accio, accio!" the pillow lifted up and soared across the room, hitting him in the face.

"Mr. Potter let's see how you are coming along." Professor Flitwick had said next to his desk, after a while. Harry had just raised his wand, and opened his mouth to summon it again when the Professor said "Sweet Merlin! What did you do to your hand, child?" He looked down and saw what he was talking about. There were long, deep scratch marks on his hand. "Why didn't you say anything before now, Mr. Potter? These look awful! Class, don't move until I come back! Come along, Mr. Potter, to the hospital wing"

No, this was bad. Really, really bad. Didn't Hagrid say that only animals were supposed to have any reaction to the stuff? "Um, that's okay professor. I know the way I can go myself."

"Are you sure? Mr. Potter, those look really bad."

"I'm fine professor really. It doesn't hurt that bad." Actually, they itched like crazy now. He was trying extremely hard not to start scratching again. "Could I just have a pass, please?"

"Well if you are sure… wait a moment I will be right back."

Some students had turned around to look at him to see what the fuss was about. Ron, and Hermione were sitting next to each other a couple of rows in front of him, and they were both giving him strange looks. Harry tried not to look at them both for too long. "Here you are, Potter. Now hurry up before they get any worse." Professor Flitwick handed him a piece of parchment and ushered him out of the classroom.

Harry found only silence in the hall. He quickly found the nearest door, which happened to be a closet and shut it behind him. There was no way he was going to the hospital wing, what if Madam Pomfrey discovered that he had fangs that he might not even be human. Harry figured that he was probably over reacting. What if he was just having an allergic reaction to whatever Hagrid had made? He couldn't stop scratching his skin it just kept itching. He looked at his hand and saw a piece of skin hanging free on his left hand, so he pulled on it trying to get it off. Except instead of pulling a small piece, he ended up pulling off most the skin on his hand, leaving behind a dark color.

"Okay, this is not good." He mumbled. With his right hand, he gently touched the areas of missing skin and found it to be rough and bumpy, almost like a snake. "No, this is bad, really, really bad." What was happening to him? How could have he possibly thought he could handle this? He was a freak! His head fell into his snake skinned hands.

How was he going to hide this? Someone was bound to notice the way his hands looked. He would only draw attention to himself if he wore gloves. He heard a cat's meow from outside of the door, and Filtch's voice came next "What's that my darling? Have you caught a student?" No, not Filtch. He would just make things worse for him.

The door creaked open and Harry quickly stuffed his hands into his pockets to hide his new problem. Filtch stood towering over him "Well, well looks like Mr. Potter is skipping classes. What should we do about that?" He reached down and grabbed him by the arm "I think your head of house will want to know what you are doing." He pulled him up and hauled him off to McGonagall's office.

The look on her face when she came in was priceless. Harry had a terrified look on his face, and with Filtch man handling him, it didn't look pretty. "What the devil have you done to the child?"

"I didn't do nuffin', found him like this in the closet near the charms classroom." Filtch said as he pushed him towards his professor.

"Yes, well take a seat Potter. I've been meaning to talk to you anyway." He didn't meet her eyes when he sat down or the entire time she was talking. "This past week I have seen more out of your school work then I have in the whole time you have been here Potter. I just wish you have shown more attention to your studies in previous years."

Hermione wasn't around to help him anymore, and he had nothing better to do now that he was alone all the time. All he had was his schoolwork, so most of his attention went to it. "Thanks Professor," he said surprised.

"However, seeing your current situation…." She stopped talking for a moment, and just looked at him. Harry still wasn't meeting her eyes. She made a move to comfort him, but thought better of it. "Well, Mr. Potter, keep up the good work and I'll look over you skipping class." She dismissed him and watched him out. "Poor child," she muttered "no one should have to go through this."

The Hogwarts staff meeting was being held inside Albus Dumbledore's office. The Students were all supposed to be in their Common rooms as it was after curfew. Severus Snape was in the meeting as he had just gotten out of the Hospital Wing the day before. He had told the staff that he didn't remember much of what happened but, that was not entirely true. He remembered being bitten by something, but it was most defiantly not a snake.

Professor Sprout had substituted for Professor Snape while his hand was healing. It was covered in what looked like a green glove. From what they had been told, he had nearly lost it due to the poison. It had been lucky that Madam Pomfrey was there or they would have had to cut it off.

Sprout had been informing them of what they had learned and the progress of all the students, when she came upon the subject of Harry Potter "He has been doing remarkably well in potions. I don't know why you keep complaining about him, he turned in a potion just the other day that was nearly flawless."

"Then I suppose getting into a tournament is not the only thing he is willing to cheat in." he said with the usual sneer to his face "Mr. Potter has been hardly passing all the years he has been in my class."

"Well I don't know about that, but Potter has been doing well in my class as well." Flitwick said. "It's a shame all of this had to happen for him to put this much effort into his work"

"I think the tournament is starting to get to him. Filtch found him crying in a cupboard while skipping your class,” Minerva told the room. Flitwick looked surprised.

"He didn't skip my class. He had large scratch marks on his hands, so I sent him on his way to the Hospital Wing."

"Well I never saw him" Madam Pomfrey said a little worried. "I haven't seen him since he came into the wing while I with Collin. That poor boy needs to be moved to St. Mungos soon Headmaster.”

"Well this is worrisome" Dumbledore had spoken up "Minerva, had you seen anything wrong with his hands while he was in your office?" He acted like he hadn’t heard the worried nurse.

"Nothing that I could see, he kept them hidden beneath his robes, and he wouldn't look at me properly."

Snape made a noise of disgust "That's just him being an attention seeking brat. I'm sure it was all one of his little pranks, and that he is perfectly fine."

Albus looked at the potions professor. "Now I'm sure Harry has an explanation for this," he looked around the room "I want you all to keep an eye out for him, if he really is hurt, find out why he didn't seek out help. If Voldemort really is going to return, we need to keep him safe". He dismissed them and they all left the room.

Albus sat back in his desk chair, and though about the boy causing his current headache. What was the poor boy thinking right now? If he really was hurt, why didn't he come for help? He couldn't protect Harry from the dark if he didn't know what was happening to him. Albus sighed and popped a lemon drop into his mouth. This was something he had to deal with and fast.

_He was in an old and dusty room. A source of warmth and light came from the fireplace in front of the only chair in the room. He couldn't see who was in the chair as it was facing away from him. A large snake slithered into the room from the door and it whispered "Master, the rat-man has received a letter for you from your follower at Hogwarts. He is debating on whether or not to give it to you now." She had slithered up to the side of his chair and was now facing whoever was in it._

_A cold voice spoke "Stupid fool, I should have him punished for showing any signs of weakness." A small and scaly hand reached out to pet the snake's head._

_"Master, when will I get to eat the boy?" the snake hissed again._

_"Soon, my dearest. When I finally have my body back, then you may have him for your dinner." The snake made a hiss like it was happy. "Go now, and see if you could convince the Rat-man to give me that letter." The snake slithered down from the chair and out the door._

_It has been so long since he has had a real body to call his own, since it was destroyed by the rebounding curse of that child. Maybe if he hadn't taken the prophecy to heart, and Stopped looking for Abigail, then maybe he would still have his body. He still wondered if she was alive, if she had really been captured by the order, or if his followers were right and she had betrayed him._

_If anyone were to find out his feelings for the woman, it would ruin him. They would see him as weak, and they would have used her against him. No, no one can ever know the truth about her. The only woman that he ever truly cared for. But, the time to think about her has ended; the rat-man has come into the room with his letter_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are appreciated!


	4. Did he just say dragons?

Throughout the next few days, the teachers had tried to sneak a look at Harry's hands, but they were somehow always hidden from view. Usually, they'd be hidden in his sleeves, or he would just suddenly find the need to dig something out of this bag with both of his hands. None of the teachers outright asked him to show them his hands; they all wanted to be subtle about it, giving him a chance to ask for help first.

While he was practicing an animal to tablecloth spell in transfiguration, Professor McGonagall found his sleeves reaching the tips of his fingers. She asked him to pull his sleeves down, saying that it would interfere with his spell work. Harry had replied that it was just far too cold in the room and preformed the spell correctly anyway.

Professor Sprout couldn't catch him very well, as her class required gloves and he kept his back to her and the rest of the class while he put them on and off. They all kept out an eye for him at breakfast and lunch, but he was never anywhere to be found, not even in between classes.

At the moment, Harry could be found hiding behind one of the suits of armor in a rarely used part of the dungeon. He had put up a notice-me-not charm around him as extra precaution. His shoes and socks were lying on the floor next to him, his pants and sleeves were rolled up as high as they would go. The snake skin didn't stop at his hands anymore. It had grown from the tip of his fingers to the edge of his elbow. One night in the shower, his feet had gotten the same look and has since grown to his knees. He was lucky that no one else was in the bathroom with him.

They didn't itch anymore, but anyone who saw them would think that he had some type of skin disease. There was a book on glamours in his lap, and he was currently practicing one for changing skin color onto his hands. He had potions in a few minutes and he wouldn't be able to hide anything from view then. It was dangerous to have your sleeves the way he was keeping them, and nobody wore gloves in potions.

His frustration and worry was increasing as time wore on. The spell would only change his skin by a few shades. Not nearly enough to hide his skin, and they weren't very strong spells. With one finite, the glamours would disappear.

"A man-child hides in the shadows?" A voice said close to him. "Must tell master, not supposed to be hiding…could be fun..." A small snake was slithering off in a painting in front of the statue where he was hiding.

"No, wait!" he whispered as loudly as he dared, showing his head from behind the suit of armor "Please don't tell anyone, I'll find somewhere else to be, just please keep quiet."

The snaked turned his head back. "Man-child speaks our tongue? Why have you not found me sooner? No one speaks to me anymore. Well, except master, but he doesn't say much."

"Well...I didn't know you were here." He said as to not insult the snake painting.

"Bah, lies. All Slytherins know about me. It's why not many come down here anymore. Don't like the way I stare at them." it said as it moved to sit on the large rock in its painting.

"Sorry, but I'm not in Slytherin. I'm in Gryffindor."

"Then how where you able to find this place, man-child? Only snake students may find me." It moved its head to get a better view of him. "Come closer man-child, I can hardly see you over there."

"Uhh.. I'd rather not…"

"Oh don't worry, I can't bite. I'm only a painting see? Not much of a Gryffindor are you? Afraid of a painting…" it let out a hiss that could only be compared to a laugh.

"What if someone sees me? I'm kind of hiding here… like you said." He said embarrassed.

"Well, it's like I said. No one ever comes down here anymore. No one will find you" Harry thought for a moment.

"Will, you tell your master or anyone I was here?"

"No, I won't tell my master or anyone you were here." The snake repeated back a little insulted "Now get over here so I don't have to look around the metal man."

Harry carefully eased himself out from behind the armor. He was a little self-conscious about walking around where anyone could just look at him and see the skin showing through his hands and feet, but he something told him to trust the snake's word.

The snake's eyes seemed to pop out of its head at the sight of him, "You are no man-child! You are Hatchling! Why would you not tell me? Silly hatchling keeping secrets…" Harry looked startled for a moment.

"Hatchling…what's hatchling?" he asked.

"How don't you know of what you even are? Poor hatchling, I wouldn't know what I'd do if I didn't know I was a snake. I'd confuse myself with a worm! Probably convince myself that dirt tasted as delicious as a rat. Of course, I don't know how a rat would taste if I was a worm though now would I?" It paused for a moment, as though choosing its next words carefully.

"A hatchling is an offspring of a person who is half man and half snake. The humans have a specific name for you, but I do not know what it is called. My master might though."

Harry's heart was beating rapidly. An answer…Someone who knew what was happening to him? "Could you tell me where your master is… err please? I would like to ask him about it."

"Of course! He would be very happy to meet you, hasn't seen another person in a long time! It's down in the big room where Sheena used to live."

Confused again, Harry asked "Who is Sheena?"

"She was a great big basilisk who lived in my master's home! But a few years ago, some kid snuck down there and killed her. Master wasn't the same after that…" the snake had a sad look on its face.

"By the way I didn't know humans were comfortable with a Hatchling in their school" it said while pointing its tail at Harry's hands.

"They… don't... that's why I was hiding. I was trying out a spell to hide these," he held up his hands "but nothing works very well."

"Silly hatching, Human magic doesn't work well on our kind. You need snake magic to hide yourself. I think the humans call it Parslemagic in their tongue." It said with a tone of superiority. Harry rolled his eyes at that.

"How do I use it then?"

"Do you really not know anything? All you have to do is put a little magic and concentration into whatever you want to do. Choose your words carefully though. Something bad could happen if you don't."

Harry thought about it for a few moments to think about it then said "I want to hide my snake skin from everyone." The black snake skin on his arms and feet disappeared without a trace. "I look human again!" he shouted.

"Yes, hatchling but you look much better in our skin. Just don't forget to keep concentrating on it, or else it will reappear" It replied. Harry felt happier than he had in a long time. This was just one less problem to worry about! A big grin appeared on his face, and he started laughing.

"Look! I don't have to hide from them anymore!" He felt amazing after that simple spell, more confident. Nobody would notice. Nothing was going to bring him down not even "SNAPE!" he shouted. "Oh, no. I have to hurry or I'll be late for class again!" he raced over to the suit of armor and quickly put on his shoes, rolled down his pants and gathered his bag. "Thank you so much! I'll see you later!" he shouted behind him as he raced to class.

"Don't forget to speak to my master!" the snake called back "He will wish to meet you!" Harry only had to take a couple of turns before he was inside the potions classroom.

"Mr. Potter...late again. Ten points from Gryffindor"

"But the bell hasn't even-" RING

"You are still standing and the bell has rung. You are late. Take a seat before I take more points from your house." Harry sat down in his chair next to Neville. "Now today we are going to brew the Vicis Decoris potion. It is used to reveal a Glamor spell that you suspect is on someone. You have within the hour to brew it. I suggest you get started." When Snape was done talking he sent a smirk at Harry.

"Oh, no" he thought "What if my parslesmagic doesn't hold up against it?" He got started along with Neville and together they set to work. They somehow managed to get through the potion without making too many mistakes though Neville was shaking the whole time.

"Blimey, I think we actually did it." Neville said with a shaky laugh.

"Time is up. Bring your samples up to the front of the class one at a time." Snape ordered. The students did as they were told. One by one, the students would bring their sample to Snape and if he deemed it satisfactory, would turn their hair or skin a different color and the class would watch as it would quickly change back to normal. "Potter, you're next."

Harry stood up, and with the tiniest smiles from Neville, went to the front of the class. He offered his potion to Snape who took not even a quick glance at it. Snape instantly waved his wand, and turned Harry's hair pink. The class laughed as Snape drawled out "Let's see if Mr. Potter learned a thing or two in my class yet. Go on Mr. Potter, drink your potion."

"HEY! You haven't even checked it yet! He could be poisoned!" Harry turned his head to a voice he hadn't heard in what felt like years. Ronald Weasley was standing up and glaring and his potions professor. Harry's breath caught in his throat. What was Ron doing? He hated him. He should be laughing along with the rest of the class.

"That may be, Mr. Weasley, but I am the professor in this class, I think I know how cure a small poisoning problem.

"Apparently not, Professor." A collective gasp went throughout the room. Ron was still standing his ground, glaring at Snape with all the hate he could muster. Snape's green gloved had twitched, and a sneer appeared on his face.

"Detention, Weasley." Snape decided to end the matter by turning back to Harry. "Drink it Potter." He took a quick look at Ron, who was refusing to meet his eyes, and swallowed half the potion.

"Focus, focus, focus," he chanted in his head, hoping that the parslemagic in his hands would hold.

"Well, it seems that Mr. Potter and Mr. Longbottom have brewed an acceptable potion. Hand it over Potter." Harry handed the potion to the Professor, and he snatched it out of his hand. Snape's eyes traveled to his hands looking for any sign of cuts that his colleague assured him were there. Seeing nothing he sneered "Don't just stand there boy. Sit back down."

The rest of the class was normal after that. The bell rang, and Harry tried to speak to Ron, but he had already left the room before he could catch him. Harry thought for a moment about going to the chamber to find the snake's mysterious master. But, Harry was a little nervous. He was finally able to get an answer to what was happening to him. To have someone that might help him. He was a little worried about the fact that he knew about the basilisk, and that he was in the chamber in the first place.

Should he even trust the snake, or should he ignore it and do what he was going to do before; figure it out all on his own? He really didn't want to focus on this right now. He just needed someone to talk to, help him get his mind off things. Hagrid was really the only person that would speak to him right now, and he really didn't want to speak to that snake again for a while.

Walking out of the castle and into the cold winter air, Harry instantly began shivering. He had to put more than a few warming charms on himself to keep comfortable. "Hey, Hagrid." He said approaching the hut.

"Just the person I needed ta see, come inside quickly." Hagrid went inside the house and Harry followed. "I have somethin' real important that I need ta tell ya." They took a seat at the table and Hagrid poured them both some tea. "Now I was just going to show you but, Charlie convinced me that it might get me fired."

The name rang a bell. "Charlie? Charlie who?" Harry asked.

"Why Charlie Weasley of course. How many other ones do you know?"

"When did he get here?" he asked again, curious as to why he didn't know about it.

"He came a few days ago. Ron didn't tell ya?"

"No," he tried his best not to look hurt "Ron didn't tell me a thing."

"Well that's strange, I heard he wanted to convince Charlie to show you in the first place." Hagrid said, surprised.

"Show me what?"

"He said," Hagrid continued as if he hadn't heard Harry say anything "He said, If they're lettin' the other Headmasters see them, you bet that they would just tell their champions. That would leave Harry at an even greater disadvantage than he has already got! He should be told anyway! He's not ready to face something as big as this! At least I think it was him" Hagrid finished. "Now I really don't want to break the rules, but he does have a point."

Harry was quiet the whole time Hagrid spoke. "Hagrid, what aren't you supposed to show me?"

Hagrid's smile fell a bit as he said "Dragons."

“…I thought you just said Dragons.” Harry said trying to pretend he hadn’t heard Hagrid speak.

"That’s exactly right! They brought dragons for yer first task." Hagrid said sadly. "Beautiful creatures, they are. Misunderstood, but beautiful."

Harry wasn't sure what to do. "Dragons…" he started "and Ron told you to tell me?"

"I’m pretty sure it was him. I heard someone talking outside my hut about it. Who else would it have been?" They stayed and tried to talk about less important things for a while. As Harry left Hagrid's hut, he saw Hedwig flying towards him with a note clutched in her beak.

"Hey girl" he whispered, as he took the small parchment from her beak. He pet her for a moment, and watched her fly off to the Owlery before he read the note.

Harry,

I need to talk to you face to face. Meet me in the Gryffindor common room tonight. Make sure you are alone.

Love,

"Sirius is coming here?!" Harry thought desperately. "Is he crazy? What if he gets caught?!" Applying an extra set of warming charms, Harry raced off to Gryffindor tower to hopefully find some way to prepare for his, escaped convict Godfather, to rethink what he was about to do.

  
  



	5. If you miss it...

Ronald Weasley was sitting on his bed in the boy's dormitory, listening to his empty stomach grumble. He hadn't eaten a real meal for over a week now. He was worried over his Ex-best friend and that fact that he might be dead before Ron could ever get the courage to fix things with him.

The guilt hadn't hit him right away, he was too jealous for that. No, Ron was happy watching Harry get the attention that he supposedly wanted. It wasn't until he saw Harry's hands torn up in charms class that he snapped out of whatever jealousy he had. Harry was hurt, he could have even been attacked, and Ron just sat there and did nothing to stop it. Friends were supposed to stick by you through thick and thin and Ron did none of that. He felt like a traitor, and from the look Hermione gave him when she saw it, she felt the same way.

When his brother came down from Romania and showed him the dragons, his brother made him swear not to tell Harry about them. He would have been able to tell him anyway, they weren't on speaking terms. Ron had wanted so badly to do anything to help Harry by that point, so when Hagrid had shown up, an idea popped into his head only worthy of a Slytherin.

It made him feel a little better that he had helped Harry in at least some way. But, it still wasn't enough. He had to him some way to help him; otherwise his friend might die…

There was a sudden chill in the air that made Ron shiver. From his experience in the wizarding world, that was never a good thing. He would have thought it was a ghost except they were not allowed in the dormitories while the students were sleeping.

Ron pulled out his wand from under his pillow and cast a lumos charm. He could not see anyone awake or anything moving. “Must have been my imagination,” Ron thought. Except it wasn’t his imagination. A few moments later Ron had the greatest headache of his life. It was so painful that he thought his head would explode.

He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to shout out for anyone to help him. But he could not. He could not do anything except sit there. Without his permission, a smile crept on Ron’s face, and his mind went black.

CREEEAAAKKKK

The door to the dormitory had opened. Ron quietly pulled the curtains back a little and peaked out. Harry's bed was the only one that was empty so it had to of been him who left. He waited a few minutes after until he couldn't hear Harry's footsteps anymore and got out of his bed to follow.

He was almost at the bottom step when he heard Harry's voice whisper, "Someone's coming."

"Keep your friends close Harry," a voice that he vaguely recognized answered back from seemingly know where. He saw Harry quickly stand up from the fire to face him…

To say Harry was relieved would be an understatement. When Sirius said that he wanted to meet in the common room, Harry thought that he would actually be there body and all. Instead it was his head in the fireplace. It was still risky, but it made Harry feel better knowing that it would be less of a chance for him to get caught.

It turned out that Sirius didn't know very much about dragons. Harry really wanted to talk about his new snake condition, but he wasn't sure on how he would take it. There reunion was cut short when he heard footsteps come down from the dorm. He quickly told his godfather who disappeared in less than a second.

 

He got up as fast as he could without looking to suspicious and saw his ex-best friend standing on the bottom step of the dorm. They stared at each other looking for something to say.

"Umm…who are you talking to?" Ron finally said while shifting his feet.

"Who says I was talking to anyone?" Harry snapped back "You must have been imagining things. It wouldn't be the first time." Harry moved away from the fire place to sit down on the couch nearest to him. "What do you want?"

Ron moved to stand by the fire place. "Well…I… I umm… I wanted to talk to you." He said not entirely meeting Harry's eyes.

"Oh really? Why would you want to do that?" Harry was not going to fall for this. He didn't need Ron. He was going to take care of himself. He didn't need friends. He didn't need Ron Weasley. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

"How are your hands?"

Harry's eyebrows shot up. "What?" he asked.

"Your hands… They were cut up the other day weren't they?" Harry was a little confused.

"Why do you care?" Ron flinched at that.

"Well…" he moved to sit down in the chair across from Harry. "They looked really bad. I was…um…" Harry just stared at him. Where was he even going with this? Ron looked like he had run out of words to say.

"You defended me in Potions." Harry stated. "Why?"

Ron took a deep breath, looked Harry straight in the eye and said "I'm sorry." Harry's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Wha-what?" Harry stuttered.

"I've been a real ass. I shouldn't have said all of those things. I mean you've always had my back whenever I was in trouble. Hell you risked your life to save my sister, and when you need me most I just turn my back on you and then you get hurt, and those DRAGONS Harry. You're going to have to fight a DRAGON! What are they thinking? Letting a kid do that…and… and Snape?! He could have killed you! I don't know what I'd do if you died and me knowing that I could have done something to save my best friend and…and … I'm sorry."

Harry was at a loss for words. Was this a joke? All this time and NOW he wanted to apologize? Neither one of them spoke for a while. Harry was staring at Ron like he had never seen him before. The silence seemed to be getting to Ron so he said "Well…..say something."

"Um…" What was he supposed to say? I forgive you after you treated me like I had the plague? He had to admit to himself that he missed Ron. It just wasn't the same without him. "I… I have to think about it."

"Oh… right, yeah of course." Ron stood up. "Well… I guess I'll just… see you later then." He walked towards the stairs.

"Yeah…okay." Harry said to softly for Ron to hear. Harry followed Ron up the stairs a few minutes later, but neither one of them said anything more that night.

The next day, Harry saw Cedric sitting under a large tree in one of the courtyards talking to a small group of his fans. For a moment, Harry thought about how unfair it was for him and probably the other two champions to know about the dragons, and not Cedric. But then he thought about how it was also unfair for him to be forced into a tournament that he had no business being in, so he just ignored him and kept on walking.

"Potter, a word" Alastor Moody said appearing seeming out of nowhere making Harry jump.

"Err is there something you need sir?" He said uncertainly

"Not here, in my office. There are eyes and ears everywhere."

Harry followed Moody silently into his office at the end of the Defense Against the Dark arts classroom. It was filled with strange instruments that probably had to do with some type of defense or other. Moody was famous for being paranoid, or maybe he just had a strange sense of style.

"That's a foe glass" he gestured to the large circular piece of glass sitting behind his desk. "Tells me when my enemies are close. If I can see the whites of their eyes, they are standing right behind me." He let out a strange noise that could only be compared to a laugh. He walked over to his desk and pulled out a quill and parchment. "So Potter, what you are going to do about your dragon."

Harry was expecting something along the lines of how his work had been going in class. It was near flawless in fact, but he wasn't expecting this. Moody should actually be turning him in for even knowing about the first task. Instead, he was offering his help. "Umm… you know I just thought that I'd….umm…"

Moody rolled his normal eye, his magical one locked firmly on Harry. "Think Potter! You need to play to your strengths! You can bet that the other champions will play to theirs!"

 

Harry's mind started turning "Right, strengths, what am I good at? I can make a teacher nearly loose his hand? But, that won't sit go well with anyone, and I don't think I can get close enough to bite a Dragon. Quidditch?" Harry realized they had been sitting in silence so he said "Well I can fly. I mean I'm a good flyer"

"Better than fair the way I heard it."

"But I'm not allowed a broom".

"You're allowed a wand" Moody replied with a creepy smile.

It was almost dinner time when Harry left Professor Moody's office. He finally had a plan on how he was going to survive the next task. If he could just cast a strong enough summoning charm to get his broom to him, he might have a chance of surviving. Moody didn't actually give him any ideas about how to attack the dragon; they just talked about how he was going to stay out of its way. During their conversation, Moody never outright told him what to do, he just hinted, and gave his opinion on what tactics he could use. Harry figured that Moody couldn't help him to much or else it might be labeled as cheating.

He followed the path on the grand staircase to Gryffindor tower when a familiar voice stopped him. "Hey, Hatchling, over here!" Harry stopped and turned to look at an old painting hanging a few inches above his head, of what appeared to be a part of the Amazon. In the very middle, a familiar serpent laying on the ground was looking down at him. "Where have you been, Hatchling? Master is very excited to meet you."

There were students on still on the lower stair case and they were giving him strange looks on their way down. "Wow, he's such a freak talking to snake's in a painting now? He must be desperate." Harry tried to look like he didn't hear them as they passed by.

"I've been busy with school stuff." He whispered to the snake after they had passed. "I didn't have time to go see him"

"Well then go now! It isn't nice to keep people waiting you know. !" The snake slithered into the portrait next to it leading him in the direction Harry knew to be Myrtles bathroom.

"Wait, you want me to go now? You have to be joking!"

"Of course Hatchling! Now come on!" Against his better judgment, he followed the snake as it led him towards Moaning Myrtles bathroom. He had to do some creative dodging to avoid any suspicion as to why he was following a snake around school, but they eventually reached the door in one piece. "Alright it's in there, just tell the door to open and follow the chamber down to the end. Master will meet you get there. Good luck!" The snake slithered off down the paintings and out of sight.

After checking to make sure that no one was watching him, harry went into the girl's bathroom. He knew he had to be extra quiet unless Moaning Myrtle would find him, and tell everyone what he was doing. He snuck over to the sinks and whispered "Open" and watched the familiar sinks move and reveal a long dark hole in the ground. "Well here goes nothing" He muttered to himself, and jumped in.

Nothing had changed down in the chamber. The giant head of Slytherin still had its mouth open as though Tom Riddle had just released the basilisk in an attempt to kill Harry almost two years ago. Harry looked over to the left of the giant head to see the dark area where Riddle had first shown himself. He approached it and lit his wand to see a short hallway with a single door at the end. It was old with mold growing on the bottom edges and at the stop the word Slytherin was carved out in sharp letters almost as if it were done by a knife.

When he opened the door, he found a dark room that smelled stuffy like no one had been there in years. The last person to have been in there would have been a young Tom Riddle almost fifty years ago. He raised his wand higher, trying to see more of the area around him.

"Who are you?" a voice spoke out from the darkness.

"Hello….who's there?" Harry responded with a shaky voice. Harry was beginning to feel a little foolish for coming down here in the first place. If someone was really in here, it most likely wouldn't end well for him.

"Who are you?" The voice said again.

"I- My name is Harry." He was looking around trying to find out where the mysterious voice was coming from.

"Ah, so Cesar wasn't lying when he told me another speaker has come into the school. Come closer child, so that I may see you." Harry walked in the direction of the voice. As he got closer, torches sprang to life around him, eliminating the darkness. He was standing in front of an open marble coffin with a dried out corpse laying inside. "Welcome Harry, to my chamber. I am Salazar Slytherin, and I believe it is time you and I had a little chat."


	6. Bet you didn't see that coming

When he was little, Harry heard his uncle up late one night watching a horror movie. The cupboard he slept in was in perfect hearing distance from the living room. So, he got listen to every scream the B-list actress made. About a fourth of the way into the movie, his uncle started snoring. On any normal day, Harry would have stayed in his cupboard and be content with imaging what was happening in the movie depending on the sounds he heard.

But, he had never been allowed to watch a movie with his "generous" Aunt and Uncle. So, instead of staying in his cupboard like good little boys do, he used his tiny hands to push open the door as slowly as possible. He made sure to take his teddy bear, named Sammy, with him. No self-respecting child would ever dare to go on a dangerous adventure without their best friend, and Sammy had seen his share of adventures. It was missing and ear, and had long stitch sewn across its chest. Sammy was the only thing he had that Dudley hadn't destroyed yet, and Harry wasn't about to let that change anytime soon.

His steps were slow and quiet; he tried as only a five year old could to make as little of noise as possible. Every time he heard a creek from the floor, he would pause to make sure he could still hear his uncle's snores. If his Uncle was asleep then he couldn't catch him. If he was asleep, then Harry wouldn't be yelled at. If he didn't pay attention to Harry, then he might just be okay.

When he finally made it to the view of the T.V, a girl covered head to toe in blood was running away from a rotting, undead man who was chasing her with slow staggering steps. Harry sat himself on the floor beside the couch where his uncle was sleeping. For the next hour, Harry was captivated by his very first movie. All of the horrors, blood, gore, and screams were permanently burned into his brain.

When Harry would look back on this memory, it would be with a mixture of fear, and fondness. It may have been the most terrifying thing he had seen at the time, but it was still the first movie he had ever seen. He even got to watch it with his best friend Sammy, and to a five year old kid, that was the best thing in the world. For the following weeks, Harry would make sure to hide completely under his thin sheet, and keep Sammy right next to him. That way he would be safe from the undead monsters if they ever found him.

However, now that he was face to face with a real undead man in front of him, all he could do was let out an ear popping scream. His feet tripped over each other in his haste to run away and he fell, face first on the ground.

"I was under the impression that you were a Gryffindor," Salazar's voice spoke "But, you seem to scared to face a corpse." His voice chuckled around the room "Is this how all of Gryffindor house behaves when faced with danger? If so, I don't know what I was worried about all these years."

"Wha-I-I just didn't expect…" Harry stuttered. He was sitting on the floor, legs shaking too much to stand properly. "How did you get here?"

"I never left, boy," the man scoffed "I have been in this tomb for over a millennium!"

"I don't understand. If you never left, how have you...survived all these years?" Harry moved to sit on his knees to try and see over the edge of the coffin, but it was still too high up.

"Do you really not know? From what Caesar tells me, you are one of my kind. Who is your family? Who are your parents, boy? You should have been told this story before."

"My name isn't boy its Harry, and I don't see how it matters," Harry snapped.

"Of course it matters! If you are with that traitor, then I should kill you now" the door leading to the main room of the chamber shut and locked with a loud BANG. "Now I'll ask you again boy. Who are your parents?"

"My parents are dead. They died when I was just a year old. They didn't have time to tell me much of anything," Harry snapped. He was not putting up with this.

"That doesn't mean they don't have names."

Harry took a deep breath to calm down, and said "My father's name.. was James Potter, and-"

"Potter?! Impossible! None of my kind would ever mate with a Potter! I will not have us corrupted by descendants of him!" His voice grew in strength as he yelled, and it caused the room to shake. Dust was falling from the ceiling and Harry was afraid that it would collapse on top of him.

"What's wrong with being a Potter? Descendants of who?"

"You really are clueless aren't you? Potter's are descendants from the Gryffindor line. The traitorous bastard who left me here," Salazar fell silent.

"I.. I heard you left the school."

"Yes, he was surprisingly good about covering or bending the truth. Actually, this chamber is not part of the school at all." Harry had finally stood up and stepped back in view of the corpse. "Ah, there you are. I thought you were going to spend all day down there." Harry's cheeks flushed in embarrassment "Now you still haven't told me who your mother is."

Harry really didn't want to tell him. With how he reacted towards his father's name he didn't really want to see how he reacted towards his mother's, and Evan's wasn't exactly a Pureblood name. With a Potter for a father, a muggleborn for a mother, and being in the house of the man that was famous for his rivalry with Salazar, Harry would be lucky to get out of there alive.

"Her name was Lily Evans," Harry finally answered.

"Evans…I have heard that name before."

"Really? How would you have heard about it? Evans is a Muggle name."

"I might be stuck down here, but that doesn't mean I am completely deprived of information."

"But you didn't know who I was,"

Salazar chuckled "I have been able to look through the eyes of the paintings of the castle. Although I haven't done it for a while now, that doesn't mean I am ignorant of the world." Harry gave the dead man a confused look. "Well hatchling, I suppose you are not completely lost. You seem to know how to ask the right questions anyway. Sit down, and I will tell you a story you need to know… this may take a while"

Harry eyes searched around the room. Sit down? Where was he supposed to do that? There was nothing to sit on. Harry had the sudden mental image of him, as the five year old holding his stuffed bear Sammy, and sitting in the lap of a younger, still alive version of Salazar Slytherin. He was reading him a bedtime story, and Harry couldn't help but hear himself say "One more story grandpa, pleeaaasseee?" But, he quickly shook his head to get that strange image out of his head and tried to focus on something more realistic.

"Err… Where am I supposed to sit," Harry finally asked.

"On the edge of my coffin of course. Otherwise, it would seem like I was telling the story to air. With the quality of Hogwarts education nowadays, I would bet that you couldn't even conjure a chair for yourself."

"But, isn't that… I don't know… disrespectful," Harry asked ignoring the remark about his school.

"How can it be disrespectful if I am telling you to sit on it?" Harry stood up on his now stable legs, and awkwardly positioned himself on the edge of Salazar's coffin. Now that he wasn't panicking he could see the corpse of Salazar clearly. He was covered in a silvery blanket from his neck down past his feet. It made Harry think that someone had wanted to make sure that, even in death, he wasn't too cold.

What was left of his eyelids was covering the sunken in holes where his eyes should have been. He had no nose, his lips looked like they would crack with one touch, and there was the tiniest peak of something silver peeking out from under the blanket. "Where to begin…where to begin…so you don't know what your heritage is-"

"I don't think so-"

",-and your parents have not told you of my history-"

"My parents are dead," Harry crossed his arms in irritation.

"That might be the problem then. Who are you staying with?" Harry shifted in his seat. This wasn't a topic he was very comfortable with.

"I live with my Muggle relatives. They don't really like magic. I never even knew I was a wizard until I got my first Hogwarts letter," Harry said hesitantly.

The fires from the torches suddenly burst high and touched the ceiling as Salazar yelled "What?!" Harry jumped up and stared at the fire quickly cooking the room. If Harry didn't do something soon, he would probably burn to death before he even found a way to open the door.

"I'm sorry," harry said quickly to try to calm him down. "I'm sorry I didn't know. They never told me anything, and I was never allowed to ask questions." Harry started talking faster and faster, partly because he was afraid of being baked to death, but he was also secretly happy he was able to get this off his chest. He had never told anyone about the things the Dursleys did to him, and it made him angry just thinking about it. "If I did I would get in so much trouble so, it became a habit to not ask any questions at all. Unless I really, really wanted to know something important to me. Hell, I didn't even know I had a godfather until last year. When I was younger and I did accidental magic, I just figured it was because I was a freak so; I didn't bother actually learning about what was wrong with me. The only time I ever actually started searching for answers on my own was when my teeth fell out one day and the next morning I woke up with FANGS!" Harry panted trying to calm himself down and catch his breath. His fist was clenched on the edge of the coffin. "So please don't be angry with me. I never wanted to stay with them."

The only think that could be heard for the next few moments, was the crackling of the calmed flames, and Harry's own breathing. Harry hoped that he didn't offend him with his rant. Harry wished for just a second, that he could move like the undead actors from the scary movie he watched as a kid. That way he could have some guess as to what the dead man was thinking. But, he just lay there, just like he had been for over a thousand years.

Finally Salazar spoke. His voice was quiet but Harry still managed to hear every single word. "You are too hard on yourself Harry." His head turned to look at the man "No, I am not mad at you little hatchling." He sat back down on the coffin. "No, I am angry at the ones who were supposed to take care of you, to teach you. But, look at you. Still strong willed enough to try and find the answers on your own. To be able to come down here, and find me. No, Harry I'm not mad at you."

Harry let a little smile cross his face. "Alright, little hatchling, its story time." Harry tried to get as comfortable as he could, and Salazar began his tale…

It was the hottest part of the summer; the wind did not move in fear it would in some way threaten the authority of the sun. Salazar Slytherin sat in a brand new office writing something of meager importance on a piece of parchment.

Suddenly, the door burst open and a man walked in dressed in dark red robes that would have looked handsome on him, were it not for the badly sewn in patched all down the sides.

"Cousin, it is finished! You must come and see!" Godric Gryffindor shouted louder than necessary.

"What is finished," Salazar replied without looking up from his work.

"The castle of course! Come on you must see it!" Godric moved over to stand by his cousin.

"I have no idea what kind of rock you have been keeping your head under, but the castle has been for over two years now," Salazar never looked up from his writing. "Now go do something useful, I am busy."

"No, no, NO! That can wait, I really mean it! You must come see it! It will take ten minutes!" Godric pushed the parchment off the desk, ignoring Salazar's cries of outrage, and pushed him towards the door.

"Godric not now! Go bother Helga!" But, he wouldn't listen. A few minutes later, they found themselves in the middle of one of the girl's bathrooms. "If this is some kind of sick joke I swear-"

"No, just trust me. Say something in Parseltongue," Godric said with a goofy grin on his face.

Salazar just looked at his cousin and best friend then said "I can't believe I am doing this. Godric Gryffindor has the smallest wand I have ever seen." The sinks started moving out, then into the floor. It revealed a hole it the floor to deep to properly see the bottom.

Salazar's eyes bulged out of his head. His mouth hung open, almost touching his neck. Godric would have thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen in his whole life, were it not for the look that his cousin was giving him.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Salazar's eyes could have lit him on fire. "Do you think this is funny?!" he walked towards the edge of the hole. "What if a student finds this? What then?"

"You haven't even seen what's inside yet. Come on, I'll show you," and Godric stepped past Salazar and jumped in. He listened to Godric slide down, and then hit the bottom with a loud "Ouch". The only thing keeping that made Salazar follow his idiot cousin down the hole, was the fact that if Godric got hurt in anyway, Rowena and Helga would have his head. It had nothing to do with their friendship, at least that's what Salazar told himself for pride's sake.

The slide down to the bottom was not something that Salazar was prepared for. It was thrilling and made him laugh and smile in a way that he really hadn't done in a long time. It made him forget his responsibilities, his worries, and most importantly made him feel like a kid again.

"See, that wasn't so bad! Come on, It's this way," and he led Salazar into a room with a giant door, that reminded him of a large vault. It had a large snake circled around the edge and several smaller ones in the middle. "Alright, speak again."

"Godric, you will be the death of me." Salazar mumbled. The vault opened up to reveal a Grand Chamber with the heads of stone snakes poking out of the ground. The face of a familiar old man carved out of the wall at the end. "Godric…."

"See? It's your dad. I know how you practically worshipped him…so I thought… why not?"

"Yes, but why is all of this here?" Salazar's face was blank; his eyes however were trying to take in everything in the room at once.

"Well I have the pitch, Helga has her Grand Hall, and Rowena has the library, so I thought you could use a room of your own. I just hope it can hold your ego."

"But, putting the entrance in the girl's bathroom?"

Godric put his arm around Salazar's shoulder. "Of course! I know how you like your secrets, and no one will think to look in there!" Godric laughed and turned to face his best and longest friend. "So, do you like it?"…

"Wait, Godric Gryffindor was your best friend… and HE built this chamber?" Harry interrupted.

"Is that really so hard to believe? I wouldn't want the first entrance built to be in a Girls bathroom, but it was quite clever on his part."

"What about the basilisk? Was that his idea too?"

"Large and potentially dangerous monster inside of the castle that only I have hope of controlling? That has Gryffindor written all over it."

"Why doesn't anybody know this?"

"I'm getting to that part later. Let's see… although, Godric, and I had our differences, our rivalry never went to the extreme that your history books tell you."

Harry raised his eyebrows "What do you mean?"

"We may have had our…disagreements over the years. For example, you are familiar with the fact that Godric wanted all magical children to be welcomed into the school. I however only wanted magical raised children to be accepted. But, we always supported each other, and that's how the school came to be. The four of us used each other's strengths, and weaknesses to build the school to all its glory."

If he could move, harry was sure that Salazar would be smiling right now. "But, with the muggleborns in the school, none of us would ever be safe." Salazar sighed. "You see, the world wasn't as accepting of magic as it is now. Muggles would drown their young if they even showed the slighted ounce of magical talent. They would burn their brothers, daughters, even their own mothers if they were suspected of witchcraft. If any of the muggleborns couldn't take that pressure, they would reveal our location, or kill us in our sleep even, if they thought it would appease their families."

Salazar paused "But, things actually seemed to work out for the first several decades. Students came and went each year, and we eventually each had children of our own. Godric's child Alexander was nothing like him. He was a shy boy, always hiding in the library." Harry looked surprised. The son of Gryffindor was shy? Impossible. "Although, he seemed to have acquired his father's love of Muggles and that is what nearly killed us all." Salazar grew quiet, as if he was choosing his words carefully, or he didn't want to say them at all. "He fell in love with a Muggle woman, Diana, from the next village over. Alex brought her into the castle while everyone was asleep. He showed her around and tried to get her to understand magic. But, several hundred years of hatred doesn't just disappear overnight. A few months later, a thousand Muggles tried to storm the castle. They were trying to break down our door and kill us all. Some students didn't make it inside in time…. They tied them to poles and burned them. Their screams could he heard for miles. We tried to stop them but there were just too many of them." Harry's face went pale. He couldn't believe that someone could do that to a child. "Helga and Rowena took what was left of the students down into the cellars, and left me and Godric to defend the castle."

"What about the passageways out of the castle?" Harry asked

"Hogwarts seemed to gain her own personality after a few hundred years. Started creating the passageways on her own. But they weren't created until after I was long gone…"

Two aged men were holding their wands high, casting the strongest shield spells that they knew. BAM! BAM! BAM!

The monsters outside were banging on the door as hard as they could trying to knock it down.

"Sal!" Godric called frantically "Where is Alex? Where is my son?"

"I don't know! He was chasing after that Whore last time I checked!" he shouted back.

"I have to find him!" Godric turned towards the staircase about to tear apart every room if he needed to.

"No! What about the Muggles? I can't hold them off by myself!" Godric paused then turned back towards Salazar and said with determination clear in his voice " Then you go and find him. I will stay here and hold them off."

"Have you lost it? That is suicide!"

"I must know my son is okay! Besides, my shield spells are better than yours. I can hold them off at least until you get back."

Salazar looked at his cousin. The man who grew up alongside him, and one person whom he would gladly call his brother. He put his hand on his Friend's shoulder and said softly "Take care."

"You as well and please make sure Alex is safe." Salazar nodded and headed up the staircase.

Salazar searched everywhere. When he finally did reach him, it was to a horrid sight. Alex was in a large classroom used for teaching Dueling. He was tied up in a chair, surrounded by a group of fifteen muggles along with Diana. BAM! Salazar was hit in the back of the head, and fell to the ground.

"Told ye' that anotha' one o' them would show. Someone see if he has one o' them magic sticks." His hands were tied behind his back and his wand taken from him. A scraggly teenager stood in front of him. "You won't need this anymore," and he snapped his wand in half.

"You really shouldn't have done that," Salazar hissed out.

"HA! You hear that boys? This one thinks he's tough. Doesn't matter you'll die soon anyway" the teenager stepped back into the small crowd.

A sickeningly sweet giggle was heard next to Alex. "Oh, you're so funny! We usually burn freaks like you, but we really don't have time for that," She took out a silver, and emerald encrusted dagger then held it up to Alex's neck. The boy's eyes closed, accepting his fate. She began to slide the knife across his neck "STOP!" Salazar shouted.

Fear was seen in the men's eyes as they backed away from him. His body began to change. His eyes turned into slits, Fangs appeared behind his lips, fingernails stretched into sharp claws and His pants tore to reveal the long body of a snake attached to his torso. A man screamed as only a little girl could, and tried to run out the door. Salazar reached down, picked him up, and threw his against the wall so hard that it cracked his skull and killed him."DO NOT TOUCH HIM!" Salazar shouted, and Diana Flew away from Alex. The loud hissing seemed to spark the men into attacking him. He grabbed the nearest man, and snapped his neck before he could even draw his sword. His long body wrapped around another and started squeezing the life out of him.

A relatively short man tried to stab his tail, but Salazar swatted him back like a fly. It continued on like this until he was sure every man was dead on the floor. Salazar changed back into his human form and was about to turn to rush over to Alex when he heard a soft gurgling sound.

Diana was leaning over Alex with the bloody dagger in her hands. Her Dress was ripped and she was bleeding heavily. Alex's head felt to the, and he didn't move again.

"NO!" Godric was standing in the doorway and saw the whole thing. "What have you done?!"

"You will all burn in hell!" She shouted before turning the blade on herself and slit her own throat. She was dead within seconds, and her body just lay there forgotten.

"Alex, NO. Please no…" Godric rushed over to his son.

"Godric ...I…I'm so…I couldn't…" Salazar couldn't find the right words to say. Godric just sat on the floor and held his dead son.

"Go." He finally said.

"What?"

"GO! GET OUT!" Gryffindor shouted at him.

Salazar backed out of the room as slowly as he could. "I'll…be in the chamber…" he said as he shut the door. He was making his way down the stair case when he heard a shout of "Salazar!" A beautiful woman with long black hair and blue eyes approached him. "Sal, are you alright? Where is Godric? What happened?" Salazar couldn't say the words so he just raised his arm and pointed to the room that his cousin was in. Rowena Ravenclaw rushed past him to make sure that her friend was alright.

Salazar waited in the chamber for several hours. He had been pacing back and forth wondering if he should just go back up there and check on him. But, he told Godric that he would wait here so he couldn't leave yet. Footsteps could be heard down the tunnel. "Godric!" Salazar shouted."Godric are you alright?" the man was covered head to toe in dirt and blood, but Salazar didn't pay attention. He raced over to him and wrapped his arms around his best friend. "It's alright cousin, we will fix this. We can make wards; everything will be fine you'll see." Salazar didn't see Godric raise his raise the Emerald encrusted knife behind his back. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save him, I thought I-" Salazar's eyes went wide. Godric had cut him off buy stabbing the knife into his back. He moved away from his cousin, looked into his eyes and saw nothing but madness there. "You were supposed to save him."

Salazar staggered backwards and fell on his knees, blood pouring from his mouth. "Please cousin, I never meant for-"

"YOU LET HIM DIE!" Godric leaned close to him face "And now this place will be your tomb." He reached over and pulled the dagger out of his back, raised it again and shoved it into his cousins heart. Salazar fell completely down on the ground and knew no more.

Salazar's story ended and he fell silent. Harry's hands were shaking. He couldn't believe that any of it was true. The Great Godric Gryffindor couldn't have murdered… NO! This was all a lie. A very, well thought-out lie.

"You need some time to think." Harry jumped at his voice. "I kept you here past dinner anyways." Harry stood up with a blank look. The door across the room, leading to the chamber, unlocked and swung open. “Why don't you try to look up what a Naga is? I'm sure it will help you." Harry walked out the door and heard the whisper of Salazar saying "Goodnight little hatchling" and the door shutting behind him.

Harry turned around to face the door. The carved out name of Slytherin was mocking him with the dark and terrible secret. He could see the shadow of a memory of Gryffindor carving out the word with the very same knife he used to kill him with. Harry shook his head to chase away the thoughts and walked quickly out of the chamber.


	7. A Therapeutic Punch in the Face

He sometimes wished he was in a different house. His father might have disowned him if he ended up in anything but Slytherin but, it's nice to imagine once in a while. He would probably be in Ravenclaw. He loved to read. He tried not to let anyone know that of course. It was too dangerous to let anyone in his house or outside of his house close to him.

Ever since he started at Hogwarts he has been looked down upon by the other students. Even though they could never prove it, everyone thought his father was a Death Eater. He would get comments thrown at him in the halls. Sometimes they were so quiet he could hardy hear them. Other times they would be yelled in his face.

He wouldn't let anyone know that they had hurt him of course. That would be very Gryffindor of him, and that would be a disgrace. But, sometimes it would stress him out to the point where he would have to fight back. Who better to attack than the boy who lived himself? The same kid who ruined his family's place with the dark lord, or so he was told. It was almost therapeutic for him to make some comment about Potter and his lack of family, or the people he hangs out with. So, when saw Potter in the hallway all by himself, and no one else around to see, he didn't hesitate to take a little of his pent up frustration out on him.

His parents had been nagging him over and over in his letters about how his grades need to be perfect, how he needs to look perfect, his attitude must be at the upmost perfection otherwise he will "spoil the Malfoy name". It is difficult for him to keep their expectations. But, they never seemed to mind him getting into a fight with Potter.

He had already gotten in trouble that day for failing a test in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he knew his father was going to find out about it. He always did. So, when he saw him walking down the hallway by himself, Malfoy couldn't resist.

He knew that he shouldn't have taken it that far. He didn't mean to knock out Potter's teeth. But, he was just so angry about everything. It wasn't until a while later that he realized that Potter wasn't even sitting with the mudblood and blood traitor anymore.

Now he was sitting on crowded bleachers, next to the two people everyone think are his friends, waiting for the first task to start. The first three competitors were able to survive the task. He was able to watch the task in detail with the Omnioculars he got from the Quidditch world cup.

To Draco, it was obvious that the champions knew about the dragons beforehand. Otherwise they wouldn't have come up with such perfect spells to defeat them. But, when he saw Potter standing in the open arena with a Hungarian Horntail standing behind him, Draco secretly hoped that he already knew about the dragon too. He may hate Potter, but it doesn't mean that he wanted him dead.

The Dragon swiped his tail down and Potter ducked behind a boulder just in time. He saw him raise his wand and shout some spell using his Omnioculars. Potter then began to try to out run every attack the dragon threw at him. Draco didn't understand what Potter's plan was. What was he waiting for? Draco used his Omnioculars to zoom in on Potter's face. Was he crying? Potter was behind one of the boulders hiding for his life. The dragon was peaking her head around the corner. Any second now, Potter would be eaten or roasted and then eaten.

Potter would be dead and the last thing he would remember about him was how he ambushed him in a hallway. He wasn't going to have anyone at school who could take his insults. Who was he going to compete with now? Who was he going to get in fights with in the great hall?

At the last second, almost as if it was too good to be true, a Firebolt came soaring through the sky and straight into Potter's hand. Draco let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. Everything happened rather quickly after that.

After the dragon broke free of its chains and they disappeared for a while, Potter got the golden egg and was sent to the infirmary. For some reason, Draco couldn't get the thought of Potter almost dying out of his head. So, he decided to go see him inside the champion's tent just to make sure he could sleep knowing that everything could go back to normal.

"Get back here young man!"

"I'm fine! Really! I don't need your help."

Potter walked out of the tent with an angry Madam Pomfrey following him.

"You better get back here this instant!" she shouted

"If Potter wants to add a few more scars to his collection then let him." Draco laughed.

"Fine! But if you start hurting because you were too foolish to come to me for help then don't start complaining!" Madam Pomfrey then turned on her heel and stomped off into the tent.

"Good job not dying Potter! It would be such a shame if you left. I would miss watching you screw up in potions clas-"

"Shut up Malfoy!" Potter had quickly run up to him, took him by the front of his shirt and held him up against a tree. "Just shut you fucking mouth!"

Draco couldn't believe his eyes. Potter had really been crying. The boy, who was unstoppable from what the rumor at school told him, had been crying not moments before.

"You feel better now don't you," Draco asked. He might not know what it was like to face a dragon, but he knew what it was like to need to vent at someone. And right now he thinks they both need to let off some steam. Draco knew the perfect way to do it too.

"Hit me." Draco said.

"What?"

"I said hit me."

"I'm not going to stoop to your level. Just go away and leave me the hell alone." Potter dropped Draco and started to walk was probably going to regret this later. Draco ran up and tackled Potter to the ground before punching him in the face.

"NOW HIT ME!" Draco yelled.

Potter didn't seem to hold back after that. They were both punching and kicking each other in every place they could reach. It was a wonder how no one came to stop them. They hit each other until they were both exhausted.

They were both lying on the ground trying to catch their breath. Draco was holding a bloody nose, while Potter was cradling his arm.

"So….feel better yet," Draco asked.

Potter started shaking. Draco couldn't see his face so he thought that he was crying again. Then, he heard him laughing. Once he realized that he was okay, Draco started laughing to. It was loud and left them gasping for more air.

"Umm.. thanks," Potter said after he finally caught his breath.

"Sure… anytime. I'll punch you more often if you like."

"Only if I get to break your nose again."

Both boys had real smiles on their face. It was a moment that neither of them would forget for a long time. They just sat there for a moment not doing anything. To Draco, it looked like his little plan had worked… until he saw something strange about Potter.

"What happened to your arm?" Draco pointed to a ripped spot in Potter's shirt. "I know I didn't do that." He reached for his arm before Potter realized what he was doing. There was something wrong with his skin. It was unnatural and dark. "Merlin what happened? Maybe you do need to see Madam Pomfrey…"

"I'm fine Malfoy. Nothing you need to worry about. Just go away." Potter jumped up and walked away before he could say anything back.

"What the hell was that?" Draco thought. He looked down at the hand he grabbed him with, and almost wasn't surprised to see that it was completely covered in Potter's blood.


	8. An Unexpected Friendship

It had been a pretty normal day for Draco. Crabbe and Goyle would not stop bickering over whose chess set was better. It didn't matter to Draco because he knew that his was definitely the best, and neither one of them would ever use them anyway so there was no point in arguing. The argument had lasted all of breakfast and into his first class. He noticed that he had been more relaxed during the rest of the day than he had been in a long time.

Draco sat with Harry in potions class. Neither of them had a choice about it. Harry had come into class late, and all of Draco's friends seemed to pair up with each other leaving him alone. The fight they had weighed on Draco's mind. He was worried that Harry would either attack him as some sort of revenge or that he had told someone that he had attacked him in the first place. Another part of Draco, not that he would admit, was still worried about Harry.

Harry seemed to have made it his personal mission to ignore Draco, much to his frustration. Surprisingly, Professor Snape didn't even pay the slightest attention to them. He was making sure that Ron and Neville's potion didn't blow up the classroom so, he didn't notice Draco pass a note over to Harry.

_You punch like a Pixie_

Harry seemed surprised at the note, and if he was angry, Draco couldn't tell. He had put his back toward Draco so he couldn't see his face or the note.

"This is a stupid idea," Draco thought. "He's going to get me in trouble. Stupid, stupid…"

_Have you gotten into a fight with a pixie before or do you think a pixie is able to make you almost break your face in?_

_It's an expression, scarhead_

Draco looked over and saw a small smile play on Harry's face. "Gotcha," he thought. So, they wrote notes back and forth to each other for the rest of the class.

And the class after that.

To the lunch after that.

Into the weeks after that.

Until they were stuck in a debate over who was the better flyer. They were both sitting at the end of the Slytherin table and away from the larger lunch crowd. Harry didn't notice the curious stares they received from around the room. The look that Ron Weasley was giving him could have killed him on the spot if he looked.

It was like a breath of fresh air after a long week stuck in his cupboard. He was smiling, laughing, and all around happier than he had been in seemingly an eternity. Not that he would tell Draco that. They never seemed to agree on anything. The things that they did agree on would take them both for surprise.

For example, their favorite Quidditch team was Thundelarra Thunderers which they had both kept a secret from both of their friends. The boys had both talked about dreaming to sneak to one of their matches next year just for the fun of it.

Time passed and the boys became closer. This did not go unnoticed by Draco's friends who were beginning to get jealous. Harry was afraid that they would try to attack him for revenge or something but Draco thought that was nonsense saying "They wouldn't even dream of it. Yeah they may be jealous but they don't own me. I can hang out with whomever I want to and it's none of their damn business."

Harry didn't even think friendships could work like that. If Ron thought that he was hanging out with someone other than him to long, he would get unbearably moody. When the yule ball was announced and everyone was just beginning to get excited over it, Ron and Hermione seemed to have gotten into a fight. Harry only knew because it was the talk of the Gryffindor common room for almost a week. That, and Ron kept complaining to anyone who would listen "She's completely mental. She actually wants me to ask her, said that I can't assume that she would go with me. I thought it was obvious!"

Draco was dreading the dance not because he was nervous but because he "had been to these type of dances before, and Malfoys know how to act of course. But he knew that it would just be an excuse for the everyday commoners to act like they were part high society." At least that's what Harry assumed he was saying. He was having a hard time focusing.

He couldn't dance.

Dance lessons with Professor McGonagall were as awkward as it was depressing. Everyone had a dance partner except him. Some of the girls partnered up together leaving him sitting off to the side all on his own. The Professor had offered to but after a few snickers from his classmates, he politely declined and left the room without protest form anyone. Checking the Marauder's Map, Harry found Draco down in the dungeons.

The room looked cozy for something that was supposed to be in the dungeons. Harry remembered the time that he and Ron snuck into the Slytherin Common room to interrogate Draco. "Things certainly have changed," he thought.

"How do you keep finding me," Draco asked looking up from the book he was reading.

"Magic, duh." Harry replied.

"Very evasive, smartass. I thought you had ballet lessons with the Gryffindorks."

"Oh you know," Harry started as he sat down next to him. "Bit too dull for me. Can't focus without a few dragons."

"Whatever, you're going to look like an ass at the Yule ball if you don't know how to dance."

Harry groaned "I'm just not going to go. What are they going to do? I'm the extra champion. It doesn't say anywhere that the extra champion has to go right?"

"Maybe not, but you'll look like a coward if you don't go. I don't think the world is ready for a coward Harry Potter do you?"

Harry's head fell back onto the couch. "I'm doomed," he whined.

"Why don't you just take the lessons with the rest of the Gryffindorks?"

"Because they still treat me like I'm a walking plague or something."

"Plague isn't the right word," a new voice chimed in. Daphne Greengrass, and Pansy Parkinson Walked in and sat down in the chairs across from them. "It's more like an apocalypse or the next junior Dark Lord."

Harry felt a little uncomfortable. Scratch that, he felt very uncomfortable. He hadn't met any of Draco's friends without trying not to throw a spell at them.

"So, what are you talking about," Pansy asked.

"Harry can't dance and is too much of a coward to sit at the Gryffindorks lessons."

"Gee thanks Draco, way to have my back," Harry said with heavy sarcasm.

"Harry Potter a coward? I never thought I'd live to see the day. Is it really so bad?" Pansy asked as her and Daphne Sat across from the two boys.

"I either have sit and watch or partner up with McGonagall."

"Well we can't have that can we," Daphne looked at pansy mischievously. "I guess that means we have to teach you."

"Why would you help me, you don't even know me," Harry said suspiciously.

"Well, you've been hogging all of Draco's time. He never pays attention to me anymore. He is too busy playing with his new best friend."

Draco and Harry both looked at each other. "It's your choice," Draco said.

It wouldn't be a terrible decision. He wouldn't have to look like a fool in front of the rest of the school. Plus, he could spend more time with his only friend. That's what Draco was to him now, right? He might make a few more, something that he secretly wanted but, would never say out loud. Could he trust them? Would they betray him or hurt him? Harry didn't want to deal with that again.

"Sure, why not," he said without much confidence. "What could go wrong?"

As it turned out, a lot of things could go wrong. He was a terrible dancer. Especially since all Pansy was did was yell at him when he did something wrong.

"No, no, no! You look like an elephant trying to tap dance!"

It quickly became stressful for him. He was too busy focusing on not stepping on Daphne's toes to notice that he was dropping his glamor.

The two girls had finally left them alone after an hour of embarrisment.

"I'm never going to get this right," Harry exclaimed. "I still don't even have a date! What am I going to do?"

"Well, at least you stopped stepping on her toes at the end," Draco added. "You're on your own with the date."

Harry groaned and hid his face in the couch where he was laying. "I'm going to be the joke of the whole school."

"You are already the joke of the whole school. You don’t need a dance to prove it."

Draco was about to say something else when he noticed the color of Harry's hands. They didn't look normal to him. Draco wasn't going to say anything until he watched them morph into something that didn't look like they belonged to a human.

"um, Harry…"

"If you try to give me a pep talk I'll never forgive you," Harry sat up so Draco could see his face. "You're supposed to tell me I'm horrible and that I'll never be a good dancer because I was friends with a blood traitor or something."

Draco could see that it was not only his arms that were deformed, but his feet as well. He didn't want to think about how much of him wasn't exactly human. However, the one thing that truly terrified Draco, was Harry's eyes. They were almost unnaturally green, and looked like they belonged to a snake that Draco had seen once when he was smaller.

His father used to tell him stories of the Dark Lord. He would describe his power, and how he used to terrify his follower with just a look from his snakelike eyes. Almost the same eyes that Harry was looking at him with right now.

"Are you even listening to me," Harry asked impatiently.

"What happened to you," Draco's face was as white as snow.

"What are you talking-" Harry looked down. "No..no…no" He quickly applied the glamor , jumped up, grabbed his things and ran out the door before Draco even had a chance to stop him.

"Harry, wait!" Draco called but it was too late.


	9. A Reveal in a

Harry felt like he had been running away from everything lately. He had been running away from his old friends, his new ones, the tournament, even the truth.

“Harry open up,” Draco called as he knocked on the closet door that Harry was currently hiding in. “Come on Harry, you can’t hide in there all day.” Harry put his snake like hands over his ears in a useless attempt to block out Draco. “Come on potter, this isn’t very Gryffindor of you.” Draco Taunted.

 Harry was glad that he wasn’t very Gryffindor. That would mean that he would have stabbed Draco in the back by now and locked his rotting body away for all eternity.  “Go away,” Harry called. But Draco did not move. He hadn’t moved for the last thirty minutes. When Harry had first run away from him, Draco chased after him, shouting at him to stop and just talk to him. Eventually, Harry had locked himself in the closet he was currently in, out of breath and unable to escape.

 Despite their sudden friendship, Harry was terrified that Draco would run off and tell someone. Instead, he stayed with him and demanded Harry come out of the closet, and that he stop being such and idiot. Harry heard Draco sigh and slide down the wall to sit next to the door.

 “Now we are both going to look like idiots,” Draco declared. “And when people walk by and wonder what I am doing, I’ll say “Oh I’m talking to Potter the coward. He is hiding in the closet because he is too scared to have a conversation with me” and then the whole school will know that you are too scared to come out of the closet,” Draco grinned. “Imagine the rumors, Potter. Oh no wait. Imagine what the Daily Prophet will say.”

Harry didn’t answer.

 “Oh look,” Draco teased. “Here come a couple of first years. Do you think they will understand what “coming out of the closet” means? I’ll bet they do- Hey!” Harry grabbed Draco by his arms and dragged the startled boy into the closet with him, shutting the door after he was sure that Draco was fully inside. “You know I was joking about the first years,” Draco complained. “And if I get dirty from sitting in here, on this filthy floor, you are so dead.”

 “Will you stop,” Harry asked annoyed.

“Stop what? We are having a conversation,” Draco replied just as annoyed.

“Stop acting like you didn't see…” Harry looked away. Draco noticed that Harry’s skin had returned to looking like a normal humans. He was also refusing to look anywhere other than Draco, and seemed to find an old broom particularly interesting. Harry obviously did not want to have this conversation and was thinking of how much trouble he would get into if he could just Obliviate Draco.  

“Why don’t you tell me what I saw,” Draco prompted.

“I…can’t,” Harry said desperately.

“Why not,” Draco was completely serious. He didn’t raise his voice, or look annoyed. He was perfectly calm and collected.

 “Because you will think I’m the next Dark Lord. That’s what everyone thinks when something goes wrong with me,” Harry seemed as if he would either scream or cry, Draco couldn’t tell.

“I’ve never been one to follow the crowd,” Draco joked. Harry didn’t laugh. “Harry, from what I’ve learned of you, I know that when you were little you had a stuffed bear named Teddy. You have an unhealthy obsession for anything sweet, and you can’t say expecto protronads without laughing. None of that exactly screams Dark Lord to me.”  Draco looked at Harry expectantly.

Harry was baffled. Where was this Draco four years ago when he wanted to be friends? Harry would have shaken hands with this Draco in a heartbeat. He took a deep breath “Fine, but promise me, Draco. You have to promise me you won’t tell anyone.

“I swear on my magic that I will not share what Harry Potter reveals in this closet without his consent,” Draco promised.

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Right… Okay.” He tried to relax. “Well you know how I can talk to snakes….”

He told him everything. About his teeth falling out, his skin changing, Cesar, Ron, even Slytherin and the story he told. When he was done, Draco’s mouth was hanging open. He never interrupted when Harry spoke, but he looked like he had a thousand questions to ask.

“Salazar Slytherin is here? Alive? In the Chamber of Secrets,” Draco asked dazed.

“Well I don’t know about “alive” but yeah,” Harry answered.

“Oh sweet merlin can I meet him? Please,” Draco begged.

“Well I’ll have to ask him first but…”

“Oh thank you thank you thank you! I can’t believe it!” Draco hugged Harry tight around his waist. Before it got awkward between them, Draco released him and exclaimed “I never thought that he would be buried here. I mean this changes everything!”

“It makes being compared to Gryffindor have a whole new meaning,” Harry said sadly. The boys were quiet for a moment, soaking in all they had talked about

“Hey, Harry,” Draco looked nervous. “Can I see? Without your glamors I mean.”

Harry looked uncertain.

“You don’t have to show me if you don’t want too,” Draco appeased.

Harry smiled then. He was happy that Draco was giving him a way to say no without making him feel guilty about it. He was also reminded of his first trip on the Hogwarts express when Ron asked him if he could see his scar.

“Sure,” Harry answered. His glamor fell away revealing his rough, scaly and black snake skin, his sharp fangs, and his eyes.

“Woah,” Draco breathed. “May I,” he pointed to his hand.

Harry nodded and held out his hand for Draco to take. When he touched it, Harry’s hand twitched. “Sorry,” Harry mumbled.

Draco lightly traced his fingers over the rough skin. He seemed to be mystified by it. “So… you really are a Naga,” Draco wondered out loud.

“Seems so” Harry sighed.

“You look…” Draco didn’t know what to say.

“Like a monster,” Harry took his hand away.

“Yeah, but like an awesome monster,” Draco encouraged. “I wouldn’t compare you to an Acromantula or anything. Those are disgusting.  But you know, like a dragon.”

Harry couldn’t help but smile.

“A dragon?” He prompted.

“Yeah dragons are cool. I’m named after them you know,” Draco couldn’t help but smile too.

“Says you. You didn’t almost get killed by one,” Harry challenged.

“Says me who watched you beat one faster than the other champions who are supposed to be superior than you in every way,” Draco retorted.

“Superior than me in every way? I’m better than them at some things,” Harry huffed.

The boys argued happily. Draco, feeling closer to Harry than any other friend he’s ever had, and Harry happy to finally share his secret and knowing he can trust him. Eventually, Harry was feeling comfortable enough to leave the cramped closet. He hissed the glamor back and he returned to looking like a human.

“That’s parselmagic,” Draco pointed out.

“Yeah it’s pretty useful,” Harry stood up and dusted himself off.

“Useful? A magic that hasn’t been seen in forever is just useful? Harry if you do ever decide to become a Dark Lord, warn me first. I want to be on your side before you do something amazing like, I don’t know, take over the ministry “because it’s useful”.” Draco rolled his eyes. “Merlin Harry, your sounding more Slytherin like every second I spend with you. Maybe this relationship isn’t good for you.”

Harry pushed open the closet door and walked out into the hall. “Hey I was supposed to be in Slytherin in the first place. And other glamor spells don’t hold up as well as this one. I don’t want them to fall just because someone decides to throw a wayward spell at me,” Harry explained. “It’s only a perk that it looks cool.” Draco just rolled his eyes again but Harry could swear he hear him mutter “Slytherin” under his breath. Neither boy seemed to wonder why a group of first years were looking them with jaws dropping, while they left the hall way.


	10. The Yule Ball

The Yule Ball was going better than Harry hoped. He hadn't stumbled over his feet yet or made an embarrassment of himself in front of the whole school. Ron had gotten into a fight with Hermione over something about Victor Krum and the only reasons Harry knew was they had a shouting match about it just outside the great hall, and Daphnie told him about it in detail a few minutes later.

Harry was surprised to realize that he didn't care what they were arguing about other than the fact it was a small bit of school gossip. He felt like an everyday student when he was sitting and laughing with Draco and his friends. They laughed, joked, danced, and sang along to the songs when they felt like it. If Harry had been friends with Ron still, he would have sat bored and in silence with him for most of the dance and then left early so Ron could go sulk in the Gryffindor tower. Instead he is having the time of his life.

Harry eventually left to go get drinks for him and his companions. He was sure that Draco was trying to spike all of his drinks the whole evening, so he wasn't letting him touch any of the drinks. Professor Moody pulled him aside while he was just about to start pouring when Professor Moody caught him.

"Having fun Potter?" He questioned one hand on his cane and the other in his pocket.

"Yeah, actually. Not as bad as I thought I was going to be." Harry answered with a smile.

"What were you expecting?" Moody eyed him.

"I was expecting to have a million reasons to be miserable but…" Harry trailed off.

"Finding better friendship with the Slytherins?" Moody's Magical eye twirled around the room but his attention was completely focused on Harry.

"Yeah," He found himself agreeing. "Yeah, I think I am." Suddenly Harry noticed a strange magic wash over him. It was completely foreign and to Harry it seemed to be searching for something.

"What the hell-"

"Nice socks, Potter." Moody smiled like nothing strange just happened.

"Uhh... thanks. A house elf gave them to me." Harry responded confused.

"Isn't the gift of clothes for house elves supposed to go the other way around?" Moody chuckled.

"Normally, yes. However, this one in particular saved my life even while he was under a man who would rather have me dead. It was a thank you present."

Moody looked at him oddly before shaking his head. "You are definitely and odd wizard Potter, and that is saying something coming from me." He threw his head back and laughed making the people around him stare.

Not soon enough, Harry made his way back to his friends who were eagerly waiting for him. Draco was leaning on the table while Pansy was deep into gossiping about some boy whose pants did not match his dress robes.

"Took you long enough," Pansy complained. "What did the Professor want?"

"I don't really know, he asked me how I thought the Ball was going." Harry sat the drinks in front of them and took his own in his hands before Draco could get ahold of it.

"That doesn't sound like him at all. Someone should check to see if he is an imposter. Moody

They stayed at the ball until early in the morning when they all had to go back to their dorms. "You should have been in Slytherin," Draco pounted. "You could come back to the dorm with us and you won't be all…" Draco waved his hand in the air "lonely."

"What did you put in your drink?" Harry laughed as Draco fell against him trying to keep his balance.

"Shhh… it's a secret," Draco whispered loudly.

"Come on, let's get you back before you get caught acting the fool," Pansy sighed.

"You're a tool," Draco retorted.

Harry waved them off and made his own way to the Tower. Everyone else was asleep except for Neville who seemed to be dancing with an imaginary girl.

"Um… Good dance right Harry?" Neville said embarrassed.

"Yeah," Harry chuckled. "Good dance. Have fun with Ginny?"

Neville beamed. "Yeah I mean after Ron stopped griping about it. My own sister, Nev. How could you?" he mocked. "I mean it would seem noble if he wasn't being a complete jerk about it."

"Yeah I know what you mean. He can be a real jerk sometimes." Harry agreed.

Neville ashamed for a moment. "Oh Harry I'm so sorry I didn't even think about…"

"Its fine," Harry reassured. "I have better friends now anyway."

"Really?" Neville looked almost surprised.

"Really." Harry smiled. "Truly, Neville. I think I should have been in Slytherin from the start. My life might have been…."

Neville smiled. "I understand, you look more comfortable with Draco and the other Slytherins than you ever did with Ron and Hermione."

"What do you mean?" Harry sat on the edge of Neville's bed.

"I mean you look happier than before, and you smile more often." Neville explained. "Maybe you should have been in Slytherin."

"Thanks I guess. I am a little surprised that you are not the only one who thinks that. I mean Moody of all people told me almost the same thing." Harry smiled.

The boys became silent while they changed into their pajamas. Loud snores, and soft breathing was heard coming from their other dorm mates' bed. Both fell easily asleep, exhausted from the fun they had that night.

In another part of the castle a man who looked like Alastor Moody, was in his office with as many wards around him to alert him to intruders as he knew.

His form was hunched over a single piece of paper that had many indents in it as if it had been written on many times and erased. His quill was moving furiously across the paper trying to finish his letter before anyone could see it.

Potter seems to be completely different from what we expected. He has made friends with the Malfoy boy after his name came out of the goblet, and I have even overheard them discussing dark magic several times. I don't think he is as light as Dumbledore believes him to be.

He also seems to be hiding something from the other professors. At the beginning of the semester, Flitwick swore that his arms looked like a hippogriff tried to claw the skin off of him. I overheard Severus talking about how his teeth grew back after they got knocked out of his head, and the boy never went to Madam Pomfrey about it. If he is not in his top form he might not make it through the tournament.

I performed a diagnostic spell on him to see how he was healing or if he had any more injuries and absolutely nothing came up. There is a powerful glamor on him covering up whatever happened to him that not even Moody's eye can see through.

I do not know when he could have learned such a thing or if anyone has been teaching him but his secrets are making it hard for me to get close to him and gain his trust.

The words on the paper disappeared as soon as he was finished writing them. Alastor waited a moment and then ever so slowly, a different message appeared.

Separate him from his friends, question him as much and as painlessly as possible, and then make him forget.

The message disappeared as well, then Moody got up and threw it in the fire destroying any chance of evidence of his short conversation remaining. He then got up and started gathering materials from his cabinets. This was going to be no easy task. He had work to do, and he needed to do it fast.

In the morning, Harry made his way down to the dungeons to meet his friends for breakfast. They usually beat him there but he woke up early and did not want to stay in the tower for longer than he had to. He also wanted to see how bad Draco was after last night. It was not strange to see Harry hanging around the dungeons anymore. The other Slytherins stopped staring at him like he was insane and left him be.

However, the head of Slytherin thought different today. "Potter, what are you doing down here?" He growled.

"Waiting for Draco, sir." He was trying to be as respectful as possible. He didn't want him to have an excuse to give him a detention.

"Draco has already started making his way to the Great Hall." He sneered. "So, just why are you in the Dungeons Potter?"

"Sir, I didn't know. I'll just go to the Great hall and meet him there." Harry tried to turn around and leave but Snape's sudden grip on his arm stopped him.

"I don't think so," He sneered and started dragging him towards his office. "You and I are going to have a little chat."

He slammed the door behind him and left Harry standing next to his desk. Snape then walked back into a door behind his office and pulled out a small bottle from one of the shelves.

"Know what this is?" He asked flatly.

"No Sir," Harry tried not to be sarcastic.

"Don't lie to me." At Harry's confused look, he continued. "Veritaserum." Snape told him. "One drop of this in your morning pumpkin juice and you will be spilling all of your secrets."

"Sir?" Harry asked feeling threatened.

"Boomslang skin, lacewing flies, a bottle of Veritaserum." Snape held it up closer to Harry's face. "You are up to something and you are not going to get away with it. You may have corrupted Weasley, and Granger with your little adventures throughout the year but you will not, corrupt Draco. He doesn't need to be running to his death chasing after you."

"Sir, I have no idea what you are talking about-"

"Do. Not. Lie. To. Me." Snape bit at him, while getting more and more in his face.

A knock sounded at the door. "Hello?" Pansy thankfully walked in and Snape retreated away from him. "Sorry if I interrupted something. Blane told me that Harry was in here and we wanted to meet him for breakfast."

Snape glared at her like she just ruined his dessert, then walked off deeper in his cupboard ending their conversation.

Harry quickly ushered Pansy out of his office and refused to answer any of her questions until they were in the safety of the Great Hall.

"But why would someone steal those things? What would they make?" Daphnie whispered loudly making Draco groan.

"They are key ingredient in the polyjuice potion." Harry remebered.

"But why wouldn't they just grab more ingredients to make the truth serum too? Wouldn't that throw them off of what they were making?" Pansy wondered.

"Maybe whatever they need to do they need to do quickly," Draco groaned with his arm over his head to try and block out the sound and smells of the Great Hall.

"That doesn't make any sense, it takes a month to brew the polyjuice potion." Harry dismissed and took a bite of his breakfast.

"Who knows, but now Professor Snape is going to find a way to blame you for it." Daphnie worried for him. "I mean he really hates you this year. I bet he will actually try something to get you expelled."

"He said that I was going to corrupt Draco or something," Harry grinned while patting Draco on the head."

"Stop it," Draco moaned turning green.

"Serves you right," Pansy laughed and pulled a plate of runny eggs, and bacon in front of him. The group of friends laughed as they watch Draco try, and fail to make it to the toiled in time to throw up.

"I think we took it too far," Harry got up to help him and tried not to laugh.

"What friends are for," Pansy giggled and followed him.


	11. Don't Drink the Tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have received MANY messages of hate mail and threats for not updating this story. I am honestly flattered. Thank you for enjoying my work. If anything I have written has inspired you to create anything at all, please feel free to share it with me and I will share it on the next chapter.

“Potter, can I speak with you,” Professor Moody cornered Harry after class was over. He didn’t really understand why he was being called up as he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong.

“Um… sure,” Harry followed the Professor in to his office and sat down in a chair while the Professor shut the door behind them.

“I wanted to speak to you before, but I haven’t found the time yet. Would you like some tea?” Moody offered. Harry found this extremely out of place from what he knew of the Professor. He didn’t seem like the type of person who liked to have _chats_ over _tea._

“Sir?” Harry asked confused.

“Tea. Do you want any?” Moody asked again. “I don’t make the best cup, but its decent enough.”

Hesitant, Harry uttered “Sure.”

It was strange watching the supposed famed auror prepare a pot of tea. It would be just as strange as seeing Albus Dumbledore at the beach or the minister taking a knitting class. There are some things you just don’t picture certain people doing but Harry supposed that he shouldn’t be so quick to judge.

“You certainly have a talent with Defense, Potter. That last paper you turned in was beyond the skill of an average forth year.” Moody congratulated. “Although under the circumstances, I guess that would be a good thing wouldn’t it?” The kettle was placed over the fire and Moody sat down with a groan in his chair facing Harry. The metal leg that he wore was taken off with another groan. Moody took a moment to rub at the stub on his leg, Harry tried to avoid looking at it.

“Thank you, professor. That means a lot.” Harry smiled shyly. “I’ve had a lot of time to study.” He had better habits now too. Draco made homework more enjoyable. Rather than focusing on how quickly he could finish, they had been using their rivalry to their advantage and had been trying to one up each other in classes. It didn’t hurt that Draco was willing to tutor him in potions as well.

“Don’t have that Weasley kid holding you back anymore, eh? I shouldn’t be spreading any personal information, but that kid’s grades dropped dramatically since you kicked him to the curb. I don’t think anything that Granger girl has done has helped him either.” Moody barked out a laugh and it was strange on Harry’s ears. “If you ask me, he wouldn’t last a day in the real world.”

“If you say so, Sir.” Harry was uncertain if it was appropriate for a teacher to be talking to his students like this at all. Gossip or no. “Why don’t you have the house elves make the tea, sir? If you don’t think that yours is very good I mean.”

“What is the main lesson I have been teaching you all semester? CONSTANT VIGALANCE!” The sudden loudness of the Professor’s voice made Harry nearly jump out of his seat. “Don’t know if those house elves can be trusted not to let anyone put anything in my drink. Besides, I could use the practice, eh? Shouldn’t be too hard to make tea and yet… Mine is always lacking.”

His office was just as cluttered with the strange objects as the last time he was in here. Although the last time, the professor helped Harry figure out just how he was going to survive the first task. It seemed like a life time ago now. “Thank you, by the way, for helping me before. I don’t know what I would have... Or what would have…”

“Think nothing of it, Potter. I’m sure with your skills, you could have done something to survive once again,” Moody nonchalantly said.

“It’s more luck than anything,” Harry disagreed.

“That flying you did, that wasn’t luck that was skill. Practicing that since you stepped foot on the school I’ve heard. You don’t out fly a dragon with just _luck.”_ Moody scoffed. “I wouldn’t be wasting my time on you in here if I thought you didn’t have any drop of skill in you.”

Harry couldn’t describe what he felt at first, but he was surprised by his professor’s words all the same. “Thank you, sir.” He scratched at his arm, just to focus on anything else but the embarrassment burning in his cheeks.

The kettle whistled and Moody didn’t even bother to get up. A wave of his wand sent to kettle floating over to them and with another wave, two cups along with milk and sugar appeared in front of them. Harry never got over his amazement at what magic could do. A cup floated its way over to him and he took it with both of his hands, and told his professor another thanks. It seemed he was saying that a lot during his visit.

Harry thought that Moody might have been right about the tea as he took a sip. It did taste a little funny to him…

“So tell me Harry, how have you been getting along with the Malfoy boy?” Moody asked.

“Great!” Harry found himself saying. “It was awkward at first, we used to hate each other you know. But then he told me to punch him in the face and I don’t know. I like spending time with him now.”

“How close would you say you two are?” Moody prodded.

“Pretty close I guess. I told him a few secrets that I haven’t told anyone alive. If I had just taken his hand at the beginning of our first year, or actually gone into Slytherin like the sorting hat wanted me to, then we might be even closer than we are now.”

“You were supposed to be in Slytherin?” Moody looked surprised.

“Yup,” Harry said with a pop. He didn’t even know why he was telling his professor all of this anyway. For some reason, he couldn’t find himself stopping. “Said I would do great things in Slytherin. But the only people I have heard of who went there at the time were all dark wizards or people who were being an ass to me.”

Moody seemed to shake the look of shock off of his face. “You said you shared some secrets with Malfoy what kinds of things did you mean?”

Harry _wanted_ to say “I don’t think I really want to tell you” or “that’s between me and him” instead, he said cheerfully as though his brain and his mouth had planned it all behind his back “That I’m a Naga.” His hand slapped over his mouth before he could stop himself.

Moody’s face turned white. “You’re a what?”

“A Naga. Well I’m almost there I mean, I haven’t gone through the final transformation yet, but I’m supposed to get there before my next birthday. It’s really weird watching your body change species. Especially when you think at any moment, your dick could-”

“Okay, okay.” Moody shook his hands to stop him. Harry had been trying to stop himself all along, but no matter what his attempts he just kept on talking. “are you sure that’s what you are? Are you positive?”

“Of course! Salazar told me himself. He was one two, so I guess that must mean we are related somehow, right? What do you think would happen if it turned out that I actually was the heir of Slytherin two years ago? That would have been crazy. Everyone would have-” Harry was cut off once again except this time it was by Moody’s stunner. He fell back into his chair his head rolling onto his shoulder.

Moody did not move for a moment. He could not believe what he had just heard if what the boy said was true, and he couldn’t lie to him under the influence of his veritaserum potion, then Harry might actually be…

But no, it wasn’t possible, there had to be a mistake.

In any case, he would have to inform his master of what he had learned at once. But first, he had the boy’s memory to erase.

Cedric had stopped him in the hall on his way out of the Professor’s office. He was dazed and confused as to why exactly he went in there in the first place. They were having a pleasant conversation and he supposed he had just let time get away from him.

“Try taking the egg and mull things over in the water,” Cedric had told him. Harry chalked it up to him still being confused but it was Daphne who figured it out, and Pansy had even given him the password to the prefect’s bathroom.

It was far more luxurious than he imagined. The bath itself looked like he could swim in it and there were far too many options for bubbles in the bath than were necessary. Harry only had to touch the knobs and they turned themselves on to the perfect temperature.

Even though he knew he was in the room alone, he couldn’t help but look around before taking off his clothes. The oversized tub filled quicker than he expected and the water turned itself off as soon as the tub was full. The room smelled of scented soaps and the bubbles, to Harry’s surprise, changed into all kinds of beautiful colors. He could definitely see the appeal of becoming a prefect.

He didn’t even touch the egg for a long while. He just enjoyed swimming around in the water, and playing with the bubbles like a child. His glamor’s, which he was always reluctant to take off, were gone revealing him in his true form. The small moment that he had alone was unexpected but he was going to cherish it all the same.

When he finally pulled himself away from his childish actions, he took the egg in his hands, placed it under the water and opened it. The only change he heard was that the screeching sound he had heard when he had opened it with Draco was gone. Acting on an impulse, Harry dunked his head in the water and that’s when he heard the beautiful song of the merpeople.

It took him a few tries to memorize the song; it took him several tries because he kept running out of air. When he was finished, he replaced his glamors and climbed out of the large tub that began draining itself all on its own.

As he was just about to leave, a pain unlike anything Harry could describe crawled its way up his legs. His legs felt like they were trying to tear themselves apart and then put themselves back together again. The strange pain made him fall to the floor. He wouldn’t say it was the worst thing he had ever felt, just the strangest.

Just as soon as it had started it was over and Harry was on his feet again. He knew what this meant. It wouldn’t be long now until his transformation was complete. Hopefully, he would be in a safe place when it did happen.

Days turned into weeks and before he knew it, the second task was only a few days away. Thanks to the help of his friends, the only problem was figuring out a way for Harry to breathe underwater for an hour.

The library was busy in the afternoon. They had both just had lunch and were sitting at a lone table, several books in front of them. Harry had told Draco of the strange pain he felt in his legs he had felt. Unfortunately, Draco was just as clueless as to what to do when the time actually came as Harry was.  

“What do you think they are going to take,” Draco pondered while peering over a small book. “I’d take your invisibility cloak, but how do you know they even know it exists?”

“I don’t know, maybe that means they will take my broom? Everyone knows I love that thing, it would be a more obvious choice,” Harry added.

“Is there any parselmagic you can use to breathe underwater that long,” Draco asked him in a hushed voice. “I would suggest using a bubblehead charm, but that’s a seventh year spell. The other champions would probably think to use that one too. Wouldn’t hurt to be different.”

Harry turned a page of the book in front of him without really reading the pages. “I’ve thought about it, but what if someone sees?”

“Well, I don’t know then. This is why they made it for students who are of age, they would know more advanced magic than you. Can’t you ask a teacher for help?” Draco complained.

“No, I’m not allowed to ask for help. _You_ shouldn’t even be helping me.” Harry put his head down on the book. They had been at this for too long already.

“So? You should get a small advantage at least. Go on just _try_.” Draco pushed. He pulled the book out from under Harry’s head making him hit the table.

“It’s not right,” Harry rubbed his head and tried to grab the book from Draco so he could hit him with it.

“Of all the stupid… this is no time to be a bloody Gryffindor.” Draco pulled the book out from Harry’s reach. Harry ended up grabbing another one to hit him with. “Ow, stop it.”

From across the room, Hermione sat at another table focused on her homework, and Ron was facing her, glaring daggers at Harry and Draco. “Has he still not gotten over his little jealousy, pity party? He looks like he is going to attack you at any second.”

“I don’t know; he has been really weird lately. One moment, he will be trying to be my friend, and the next he is telling me to burn in hell.” Harry blocked Draco’s book with his own.

“It’s me, I just bring out the best in people,” Draco joked.

“Well that’s what I thought too, but sometimes, you aren’t even around and he just…. I don’t know. He isn’t even acting like how I used to know him.” Harry ducked his head as Draco tried to swing his book at him.

“What are you doing to my books?” The shrill voice of Madam Pince called. “Out, both of you, out!” The two boys grabbed their things and raced out of the library, trying not to giggle like girls the whole way.

The answer came from someone who Harry least expected. When he wasn’t spending time with his new friends, the only other person whom Harry really got along with now was Neville. He had only been half paying attention when Neville was going on about the new book that Professor Moody had let him borrow.

“Wait, what did you say?” Harry interrupted when he finally paid attention to what he was saying.

“They breed by eating the heads of off the male bulbs-”

“No, no the other thing. The Dillybead one.” Harry sat up in his four poster bed and turned to face Neville.

“It’s called Gillyweed,” Neville rolled his eyes. “It grows in swamps and it’s really difficult to harvest.”

“But you said it can make you breathe underwater?” Harry prompted eagerly.

“Yeah, that’s _one_ of its uses,” Neville pulled out his new favorite book and turned to the page that had bold letters titled Gillyweed. “But there are tons of other things that it can do.”

“That’s great Neville, but I need to know this for the task. How long will it last?” Harry went to sit down next to Neville to get a better view of the book.

“I guess it depends on how much you take.” Neville thought. “But you can’t take too much or it could have some serious side effects.”

“Do you think that Professor Sprout keep some in stock?” Harry wondered.

“I don’t see why not?” Neville shrugged and closed the book. “She has a lot of rare plants in her stock.”

“Well then Neville, I have a job for you…” Harry smiled.

“Here,” Neville handed Harry a handful of gillyweed on the edge of the black lake looking quite proud of himself. Students waved at them as they passed by on their way to the stands to watch the second task.

“Did you get caught?” Harry asked, the plan was for Neville to sneak into the greenhouses to steal some, but it looked like he could handle himself.

“Yup,” Neville grinned happily.

“You what?” Harry blinked.

“You know, I thought about sneaking in there and just taking it, but that didn’t right. So, I just went up and asked Professor Sprout if I could have some.” Neville explained.

“And she just gave it to you,” Harry asked surprised. He wasn’t used to doing things that way. In his experience, adults were always trying to hinder him from doing the things he needed to do, especially if it contributed to his survival.

“Yeah, she likes me, and I think she knew what it was for. She didn’t put up much of a fight when I asked for it anyway,” Neville looked proud of himself.

Harry wrapped his arm around Neville and said “Don’t ever change, Nev.”

Hours passed, and Harry was starting to get worried. He would have expected to have seen Draco before he started the task, but it seemed that not even Daphne nor Pansy had seen him. Eventually, it was time to begin and there was nothing else Harry could do.

The water was colder than he expected, and eating the gillyweed did nothing to add to his comfort. Breathing the water in and out of his new gills was something he was going to have to get used to. He could only see up to thirty far in front of him which hindered his ability to search but it was better than drowning.

Fish swam by him unafraid and thankfully, the giant squid was nowhere in sight. Not that he could see very far. A small school of grindylow attacked him while he was trying to get close to what looked like an underwater castle that had long since eroded away its glory, but other than that, the first part of the task bored him.

It wasn’t until he got close to the castle that he truly began to be worried. In the middle of the rubble he saw four people tied down to the lake floor. He recognized all of them. Cho chang, Hermione granger, a girl he had seen hanging around Fleur often, and Draco Malfoy.

Was this where was this whole time? How long had he been down there? He grabbed his friend’s shoulders and shook him to see if he would wake up. Next he grabbed his cheeks to feel for warmth but he found none. As every second passed, his worry increased. One of the merpeople that tried to get near them had the misfortune of Harry baring his sharp fangs at it. The creature swam away in fear before it could get any closer.

Wasting no time pulling out his wand, Harry bit the rope away and as quickly as he could, pulled Draco to the surface. When his lungs first filled with air, his first instinct was to shout for help and demand to know who had done this to his friend. He stopped when he heard coughing in his ears.

“They really took me down there didn’t they?” Draco coughed, making Harry feel relieved. “Wait until my father hears about this, they actually put us in danger letting us near those things. What if the giant squid was down there? I don’t think any of that trash followed us down there too-” Draco couldn’t continue, because he was too busy keeping his head above water with Harry hugging him.

“I thought you were dead!” Harry shouted, holding his friend tigher.

“No, it was a stasis spell. I mean they had _some_ amount of sense.” Draco struggled to keep them both above water. They both reached the edge of the lake and the crowd of students chanted his name as he walked onto land. “Quite the turnaround isn’t it? Couldn’t wait to switch sides as soon as you started winning.” Nevertheless, Draco smiled and waved to the students who were cheering them on.

They were each given a drying charm by Madam Pomphrey and a blanket to keep warm. They sat together and waited for the other champions to arrive. One by one, heads popped out of the water. Unfortunately, Fleur arrived without her sister and two teachers had to swim down into the lake to retrieve her.

As soon as everyone arrived back on land, Harry saw one of the merpeople come out of the water and start speaking to Dumbledore. Chills suddenly went down Harry’s spine.

“Dumbledore knows merspeak?” Harry asked shakily while he watched them speak.

“Yeah, He knows tons of languages. Why?” Draco looked worriedly at Harry and watched the blood drain from his face. He followed Harry’s line of vision and saw Dumbedore turn to look at his friend with a grave look on his face.


	12. Did You Miss It?

One phrase kept repeating itself in his head over and over. “It’s not possible.” There was no chance that the boy was telling the truth. Barty must have gotten the wrong potion when he interrogated the boy. But no, he had sent the bottle with him in a letter as proof. Still, perhaps the boy was confused? There are other creatures like the Naga that the boy could be, and Nagas were so rare…

No, he had mentioned that Salazar himself had told him of it. He himself had spoken to him when he was younger. Oh what a time that had been. Finally, he had found some resemblance of family in the wizarding world, even if it was in the form of a talking corpse.

If the Potter boy truly was a Naga, then where did he get the gene from? There was never a Potter who had shown any magical creature traits in hundreds of years. He was sure that the Muggleborn woman had been just that. Muggleborn. There had been no trace of magical blood in her family until her. He made a point to know his enemies especially when he had to wipe out their entire family.

So then _how_? The only other explanation was that the boy was…. no.

That was ridiculous. The only woman who he had been with at the time had been on his side. He had trusted her with almost everything. Far more than he had trusted even some of his closest followers. It broke what little heart he had when she had gone missing. But, he sadly hadn’t spent long looking for her personally. The prophecy that had been told to him consumed his attention and sanity. The Potter family _had_ just gone into hiding around the same time…

No.

No. No. NO.

He wanted to keep denying it, but it was the only logical explanation. Lily’s child… it was his. The Potter boy, wasn’t really a Potter.

How _dare_ she.

A muggleborn woman tricked him, made him fall for her and just as he was feeling vulnerable…

What that the order’s plan all along? To have one of their own carry his child to be used against him? His hatred for that boy only increased. He wanted nothing more than to watch as the life was slowly drained from his eyes. It was no secret that he valued important families in the wizarding world, did they think he wouldn’t turn on his own blood if he had too? He killed his own father after all.

They would pay, they would all pay. He would find every single person who was involved in this little scheme of theirs and he would burn them all to ash. Why hadn’t he listened to himself in the first place? He never let his guard down, especially not for something as silly as _affection_. He didn’t think he had ever felt so much fury in his entire existence. But, there was little he could do about it at the moment.

He was weak and helpless in his current form. Wormtail was gone, he didn’t like being around him in fear that he would throw a crucio at him. He probably would have right now with as much hatred and anger he was feeling. Nagini left to go hunting for food not too long ago so not only was he weak and helpless, but he was alone.

His small hands were clenched and as he looked into the fire, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander. Had there ever been a moment where he could have doubted Abigail’s…no… Lily’s loyalty? She had been perfect in every way. Her skills outmatched even his strongest Death Eaters. She had even bested him not once, but three times. Abigail was mysteriously missing from those fights, more proof that it had been her all along. She always gave him advice and guidance that was unparalleled to anyone else’s.

There had been a moment when he had doubted himself, even after all he had accomplished. She had approached him when no one else would. His followers were often afraid of him when he got into a bad moon. Her voice was calm and strange against the storm of self-doubt that he hadn’t felt in so long.  She had encouraged him, not as a follower or out of fear, but as a friend. Something he would have scoffed at before. A Dark Lord did not have _friends_ after all.

“You can do better; become more than anyone here would even dream about. Don’t doubt yourself. You can do so much good.” She said it as a fact. Staring him down, not kneeling before him or cowering at his feel. He had never considered her to be an equal to him before that moment. He didn’t know exactly what she had meant when she said it, but her words had never left him.

She was so powerful, so clever. But when she faced him that night, she did nothing. She just stood in front of him and asked him not to kill her son.

But he had killed her anyway. If he had known that it had been her all along, would he have followed her request? Would he be a loving father now with her at his side? To many questions that he would never know the answer of.

An ache in his chest curbed his anger. He knew what this meant; he had seen so many go through this before. The woman who he had grown to care for so many years ago, still held a place in his heart. He shouldn’t be surprised, affection made people do strange things after all. But could he hurt her son after all of this? Was he still his enemy? He had killed the boy’s mother after all. A tear unexpectedly fell down his cheek. He didn’t even think he could cry in this form.

Even if he wanted to reach out to the boy, he would probably never accept him as a father. But Potter’s final transformation was coming soon. When he had his, he was alone. It was the single most painful thing he had ever experienced in his life and he would never wish that on _her_ child even as betrayed as he felt.

This _affection_ he felt was already starting to change him. Enemy or no, his rebirthing potion would have to be changed. Luckily, if the boy truly was his son, then he would return more powerful than ever before. Lord Voldemort would return regardless of the outcome.

Hogwarts always seemed more like a haunted house than a school to Ron at this time of night. The paintings were all sleeping, some snoring impossibly loud. Ghosts roamed the halls only half paying attention to where they were going to, the living unable to occupy their attentions now that they were all asleep.

Ron started finding himself up in the middle of the night in the dark halls of the castle, only he couldn’t remember how he got there. He had never slept walked before, so why is he starting now? Now when he was awake, he was tired and irritated and the people around him were starting to notice. Hermione asked him about his “mood swings” but he just brushed her off.

The incidents had increased to the point where now, he had moments like this during the day. He would remember being in a class, and the next thing he knew, he would be somewhere else in the school. One time, he had woken up in Myrtles bathroom, facing the sink that he knew to be the entrance to the chamber of secrets. His hand had been gripping the faucet and his tired eyes stared back at him from the mirror. He didn’t even look like himself anymore.

What the hell was happening to him?

“Ron? Are you listening?” Hermione asked. They were sitting in the great hall. Students talked and laughed loudly around them. “You’ve been staring at your food for the past five minutes. Are you feeling alright?”

His eyes glanced over to the Slytherin table where he could see Harry laughing along with whatever his new best friends said. Rage and jealously burned within him. “I’m fine,” he glared. Why did Harry get to be so popular and happy after he had sneaked his way into the tournament? Everyone felt pity for him at first knowing that not even he knew Harry’s scheme. Now they were irritated with him for not being on their side when they cheered his name.

“Ron?” Hermione looked at him worriedly and gently touched his shoulder.

“I said I’m fine,” Ron snapped and violently brushed her off. Tears filled at the corner of her eyes. Suddenly, it was as if Ron’s whole demeanor changed. He tore his eyes away from Harry and looked at her apologetically. “I’m so sorry, Hermione. I don’t know what’s come over me lately. You didn’t deserve that.”

Hermione looked suspicious at Ron’s sudden change but nodded her head. “Maybe you need to go see Madam Pomphrey. You’ve been acting strange for a while.”

“Really, Hermione I’m fine.” He smiled kindly at her before, complete opposite of how he was acting only a moment earlier. “I’m just worried about Harry. He shouldn’t be hanging around people like that.”

“If you say so,” Hermione turned her attention back to her breakfast. Ron looked back to the Slytherin table. The emotions that were ever so present before were gone from his eyes.

That afternoon, Harry found himself once again on the floor with a strange pain in his legs. Luckily, Draco was there with him and was able to carry him into an empty classroom until the pain passed. Shakily, Harry stood up and sat himself down in a chair.

“That was intense,” Draco commented worriedly. He felt uneasy knowing that there was nothing he could do to help except wait with him. “How often does that happen?”

“It’s only the second time, but it hurt worse than the last time,” Harry groaned. “I can’t imagine how bad it’s going to be when it actually happens.” His hands rubbed at his legs to try and rub the strange feeling away.

“Can’t you… you know… ask someone with experience on this for help?” Draco asked with a hint of mischievous intent. “I mean you said that there was a certain _someone_ here who knows what you are going through?”

Harry sighed. He could go ask him for help, but the thought of the chamber only seemed to creep him out at the moment. “That would be the logical choice…”

Draco could hardly contain his excitement, but like all Malfoys, he looked only like a picture of perfect manners. “And could I go with you?”

Harry rolled his eyes and smiled. “Well, I don’t see the point of going down there alone…”

“Yes!” Draco jumped and threw a fist in the air. “Oh merlin this is great! What do you think I should wear? Should I bring him a present?” He paced around the room, unable to contain himself.

“Well just don’t make an idiot of yourself in front of him and I think you’ll do just fine.” Harry laughed.

“Me? You’re the bloody Gryffindor here, what’s the worst that I can do?” Draco scoffed and helped Harry stand when he noticed that he had felt better.

“Well, you could always part your hair the wrong way and cause insult to your family for all eternity. Imagine, the Malfoy family hated by Salazar Slytherin himself all because he didn’t like your hair,” Harry teased, and Draco hit him on the arm. “Hey,” Harry laughed and chased Draco out of the door.

They decided to go to see him that night. Draco waited outside his dorm room and jumped when Harry took off his cloak. “Merlin! Give me warning next time would you?” Draco whispered. He was dressed nicely and to Harry’s amusement, his hair was slightly messed up as though he had trouble deciding how to put it.

Harry snickered “I couldn’t resist. Get under here, it will be cramped, but it’s safer than walking around freely.” Together, they walked to Myrtles bathroom and paused outside of the door.  “When we go in, be as quiet as you can. Myrtle might see us and tell someone what we are doing. I’ll open the chamber and you can follow me in,” Harry instructed.

However, when they walked in there was someone already in there. Whoever it was, they were taller than both Harry and Draco. A hood covered their head and face, making it impossible to see who it clearly was. Their wand slashed the entrance over and over. Spell after silent spell tried to break the faucet but nothing seemed to damage it. Neither of the boy’s moved in fear they would be spotted.

Finally, the stranger seemed to run out of energy and with a kick to the sick, stormed out of the room. The two boys waited until their footsteps were well out of sight before they moved. Harry hissed for the entrance to open and he could feel Draco’s silent awe beside him.

Draco was aching to ask questions, but waited until they both slid down the long tunnel and landed in the piles of bones at the bottom. “This is disgusting,” Draco’s nose scrunched up as if he smelled something awful. “Why the hell did he put the entrance in a girl’s bathroom?”

“Who would expect it to be there?” Harry shrugged. “What I want to know, is who the hell was that up there? Who is trying to get into the chamber?”

“I don’t know, who else knows about it?” Draco stepped on rat bones and the crunch noise they made, made him shiver.

“Me, Hermione, Ron, Myrtle, and Dumbledore. I think he tried to destroy the chamber back then, but obviously it didn’t work. That person looked like they were trying to break in, maybe only parseltounge can open it after all?” Harry led the way to the main chamber and despite the smell, Draco stood there in awe at the sight.

He had to spend the next few minutes admiring the sculpture of Salazar carved into the wall. Harry stopped in the spot he knew to be the place where Salazar had been murdered and felt a chill run down his spine. This place seemed to only attract death, maybe it really should be destroyed.

“He’s this way,” Harry led Draco into the chamber where Salazar lay. It was just as unsettling as last time.

Draco walked a step behind Harry “He is really in there,” He stated quietly. “All this time and he was here…”

“You came back,” A voice spoke from all around them making Draco jump. “Been busy?”

“I came to ask you a question,” Harry bravely walked up to the stone coffin and peered down at the corpse that lay there. It unnerved him just as much as it had before. Draco stood over his shoulder and gasped at the sight.

“Who are you?” Salazar’s voice made Draco jump again.

“My name is Draco Malfoy, sir,” Draco introduced nervously. Harry could see his hands shaking. “It is an Honor to meet you.”

“And you are here because?” Salazar prompted.

Draco seemed to become even more shaken up the longer he remained under Salazar’s attention. “I just wanted to meet you, sir. And I’m here to support Harry.” Draco seemed to gather himself and stood up straighter. “He needs help with his transformation. We don’t know what to do when it finally happens.”

“You will have the help you need when the time comes, there is no need to worry about that. But, I appreciate you willing to help one of my own kind Draco. With the reputation my name has, most would not hesitate to turn their backs on him if they had the chance.” At Salazar’s words, Draco let out the breath of air he was holding.

“Thank you, sir.” He bowed.

“There are more important matters to deal with,” Salazar said gravely. “There is a dark presence that has been trying to find its way into my chamber. It is powerful and sinister. It is unlike anything I have ever felt before.”

“We saw someone trying to break in here when we arrived, we didn’t see their face, but they were insistent on coming in here.” Harry informed.

“That could be it then. I am limited here. With what little power I have here, all of it is being directed towards the protection of this chamber. I fear what would happen should it break in.” Salazar’s voice wavered. “I am stuck here like this, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t do more damage to me.”

“Myrtle could have seen something,” Draco supplied. “She haunts the bathroom; she is bound to have noticed something strange going on.”

“We’ll ask her then,” Harry agreed. “But, who is going to help me ‘when the time comes’? I don’t know anyone else who could.”

“Be patient, Harry. There is great change coming in your future, it is up to you to decide whether or not it is a change for the better.” Salazar’s voice sounded as if he could have been smiling. “Both of you need to be on alert. There are those who would rejoice at something coming in here and destroying what little I have left.”

With that, the two boys left the chamber. Harry walked Draco back to his dorm with a promise to discuss everything they had learned on the next day. The castle halls where empty until he got to the last staircase before he reached his dorm.

Ron stood staring at a sleeping portrait of a man stuck in a tower.  His invisibility cloak was still on, and he didn’t want to alert him to his position. He watched as Ron seemed to shake himself of whatever he was thinking about, look around confused, and then walk towards the entrance to the dorm like nothing was wrong.

Harry followed him silently inside and waited until Ron had gone up the stairs. He didn’t feel like going up to bed for a while, he had a lot to think about after all. So many unanswered questions, and now he had several more. It seemed like he would have to wait until answers revealed themselves.

 


	13. You Should have been in Gryffindor

 

Draco sat at the Slytherin table during breakfast in a daze. Pansy kept poking him with her fork to get him to talk to her, but he didn’t trust himself to speak at the moment. He could hardly even sleep the night before and for once he did not care. His beauty sleep meant nothing to him compared to what he experienced the night before.

It was like everything he knew to be true had been turned on his head. Sure, Harry had told him before that Salazar had been sort of living in the castle for a thousand years, but he wasn’t sure he believed it at the time. Harry had confessed his condition to him only after he had pressured him into it, he wasn’t going to tell him that he thought he was crazy then. For all he knew, Naga’s could have the tendency to hallucinate or something of the kind.

Up until he actually saw the chamber himself, he refused to believe that one of his idols, the very person his family has based their beliefs on, was still alive, in a sense, and in the castle. But now that he saw him with his own eyes, he felt like there were endless possibilities for him. He didn’t have the nerve to speak to him then, or ask any of the questions he wanted.

The way he acted in front of Salazar would have made his father ashamed. He would have disowned him right then and there for not even being able to speak properly in front of him. What would his father say though, if he told him about what he had discovered? Ever since he was little, he was always trying to win over his father’s approval and although he did everything his father asked of him, he seemed to always fall short of his expectations.

He remembered the look on his father’s face when he had arrived at the school to deal with the hippogriff last year. Draco knew his father did not approve of the grounds keeper becoming a professor, and at that time he was eager to give his father a chance to do something about it. If nothing else, he would have proven himself capable to his father in helping him achieve his goals.

Instead, what he saw shook him. His father had a malice to him that he had never seen before, or at least never understood. At the time, he wasn’t just out to destroy the grounds keeper’s job, he was out to destroy his life.

Draco had _thought_ that he was making his father happy, and in a way, he supposed he was. But he could never forget the look in his eyes when he saw him lying there in the hospital wing. Bandaged up, his friends giving him sympathy, and not a single measure of pain written on his face. In fact, Draco could remember looking up at his father with pride.

He looked as though he wanted to tell his father “Look what I did! Aren’t you proud of me? You can get back at the headmaster now.” But, his father looked at him at what could only be described to him as disappointment and loathing. He didn’t understand it. Why wasn’t he happy with him?

The year before that, his father had almost achieved his goal and was able to get Hagrid sent to Askaban for a short while. Draco wasn’t there when his father found out that he had to be released, but when he got home, he had noticed that the house elves were decorated with several colorful injuries that he had chosen to ignore at the time.

He had always wanted nothing more than to please his father, but now there was someone else he could try to impress. Someone who he had been told his whole life, enforced over and over again, is a person to be respected and that he should strive to be like him. There was no one that his father looked up to more, except perhaps the Dark Lord.

If he could just get another chance to talk to him, get to know him, then maybe he would be able to please his father finally. What better name than to bring honor to the Malfoy name than through Salazar Slytherin himself?

“Are you in there?” Pansy poked him with her fork again.

“I think he might be broken,” Daphne stated before taking a bite of her cereal.

“Look he hasn’t even noticed that he has egg all over his robes now,” Pansy snickered.

“You did what to my robes?” Draco finally snapped. It was true. In her attempts to snap him out of his musings, she had gotten egg yolk all down the sleeve of his robe. “You are an absolute nightmare, Pansy Parkinson. You better sleep with one eye open.”

Pansy rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her breakfast. “Just try something, I dare you.”

“So, what’s got you spacing out like a cat on catnip?” Daphne asked between bites.

The old Draco wouldn’t have hesitated to brag about what took place that night, but he found himself unable to break Harry’s trust in him. “I didn’t sleep well last night. Crabbe kept snoring and it literally shook the whole dorm.”

“Oh, it literally shook the dorm?” Pansy mocked.

“Hey, you take him in your dorm if you don’t believe me. I’ll be happy to give him to you for the fair price of one Galleon.” Draco offered. Finally, he filled his plate with his breakfast; bacon and pancakes. He did not want to touch the eggs after they had made their home on his shoulder. A quick spell towards the mess and his robe looked good as new.

“Just a Galleon, that’s a steal!” Daphne snickered. “You selling anyone else? Blaze perhaps?”

“Oh no, he’s going to cost you,” Draco played along. “But I can rent him out for ten Galleons. I think we may have trouble.” He pointed to the front of the great hall and in the doorway stood Ron and Harry.

Harry was in a defensive stance as though ready for a fight, Ron stood tall and proud much unlike his usual hunched stance. They appeared to talk for a moment, before Ron left with a friendly wave. As, Harry made his way over to the table, Daphne scooted over so he could have room to sit down.

“What was that all about?” Draco questioned.

“I don’t even know; he is starting to freak me out. But, he told me that Dumbledore wants to see me in his office later today,” Harry gave a very pointed look at Draco.

“You want me to go with you,” Draco offered.

“No, I’ll be fine,” Harry said without much confidence. “Besides, what is the worst he could do to me?”

“Oh shut it, don’t act all brave now. There is nothing wrong with taking a little back up with you.” Daphne scolded. With her breakfast finished, she stood up and swing her bag over her shoulder. “I’ll see you losers later. I’m going to get to class.” With that, she made her way out of the Great Hall.

“Something is going on with you two,” Pansy stated suspiciously. “I don’t know what it is, but I am going to find out. You can’t keep secrets from me, Draco Malfoy.” She soon made her own way out of the Great Hall and headed off to class, her threat still lingered in the air.

“You think that we should tell them,” Harry asked Draco in a hushed voice.

Draco was torn. He trusted his friend with most things, and they had been a valuable asset on more than one occasion, but he liked being the only person that Harry relied on at the moment. “We should… but not yet,” Draco whispered. “Maybe when we can find more information about how to help you.”

“Alright,” Harry agreed. “But, if they panic or try to tell someone, then we might have to Obliviate them. You think you can do that?” The spell wasn’t an easy one, nor would it be easy to use it on a friend.

“Yeah, I think so,” Draco said uncertainly. “But come on, we have class to get to.”

Dumbledore paced his office, an old photo clutched in his hand. He felt the weight of his past decisions on his shoulders. The next few steps were going to be key in determining the future. If he made a wrong move now, he would lose everything that he worked so hard to gain. The shadows moved in the corner alerting Dumbledore to a presence.

“Patience, my old friend.” He told the shadow. “It wouldn’t do us any good if you lost control, now would it?”  

Glowing red eyes opened in the darkness, full of anger and hate. The room reflected their emotions, and would have brought anyone else to their knees from the sheer force of their power. Everything began to shake and a trophy fell off a shelf and onto the floor, denting it on impact. The Hogwarts crest that hung on a wall behind his desk cracked along the lion of Gryffindor.

“I know, but you will just have to wait a little longer. They will meet their end soon,” Dumbledore spoke calmly. The room stopped shaking and the shadow’s eyes glared at him. “Return to your host, I can handle things here.” Glowing red eyes disappeared and the headmaster was left alone in his office.

Just as Dumbledore finished cleaning up his office, a knock was heard at the door. “Come in,” He called and in walked Harry nervously into the room. “Ah, it’s good to see you my boy? Come sit down. How have you been?”

Harry did as he was told and sat down in front of Dumbledore’s desk. “I’ve been good, sir.”

Dumbledore took the seat behind his desk and gently pushed a bowl towards Harry. “Lemon drop,” He offered kindly. “I’ve noticed that you have made some new friends, Harry. I am happy for you. But, is there no chance for you to rekindle your old friendship with Mr. Weasley? Their family has done so much for you in your short time in the wizarding world. It would be nice to see you two back together again.”

Harry shook his head and shifted in his seat. “I don’t know, sir. He has been acting strange lately. I don’t know what he wants from me,” Harry told him truthfully. “Why do you ask?”

Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his chair. A grave looked passed over his old twinkling eyes. “I am sorry to tell you, but there are going to be things in your future that you will have to face, and I do not want you to face them alone. You will need friends you can trust by your side when the time comes.”

Harry tilted his head confused. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m sure you have suspected by now that Voldemort has had something to do with you being in this tournament?” Dumbledore started. Harry nodded uncertainly and the headmaster continued. “I have suspected as well, but that is not what concerns me at the moment. You have been going through some changes lately, haven’t you?”

“Uh, well…” Harry stammered nervously. He did not know what to say.

“It is alright my boy, I already knew. I just wish that I had been there to tell you sooner, at least I had hoped that it wasn’t true.” Dumbledore pulled out the picture that he had been carrying earlier and handed it to Harry. A woman with long black hair, green eyes, and a sinister aura around her looked back up at him. “Do you know who this woman is?”

“No,” Harry answered. She did not look familiar to him at all, except her eyes. They reminded him of someone he had seen before but he couldn’t place his finger on it.

“It is your mother. But like this, she was known as Abigail.” Dumbledore explained. “Quite the difference, isn’t it?”

Harry took a closer look at the woman and the image of his mother in his head. The only resemblance between the two was the color of her eyes. “But, why are you showing me this?”

Dumbledore stood up and walked to an open window and closed it. “There was a time during the first war when we had nothing. I was a part of a secret group that fought against the Dark Lord and his armies. We called ourselves the Order of the Phoenix and at the time we didn’t know who to trust, and everyone was dying on all sides. We were desperate to gain an advantage, and we were willing to do anything to do it. No, one was more willing to take that risk than your mother.”

“She had devised a rather daring plan. At first, she had told me of her desire to save her old school friend who had fallen in with the Death Eaters, but offered to do more if it meant saving more lives. James had become even more reckless than he had in his youth, and often returned form a mission in a worse condition than when he left. Lily wanted nothing more than to see then end of the war, just so she could see the people she loved safe.”

“She infiltrated the Dark Lord’s rank in disguise, gaining their trust, finding out their secrets…” Dumbledore walked to the Hogwarts crest behind his desk and pulled out his wand. “She did this mission in secret. Unknown to anyone else except myself, and soon enough, she became close to the Dark Lord.” A wave of his wand and the previously cracked image of a lion was repaired.

“If anyone had found out, they would either try to convince her that her mission was too dangerous, or think her to be betraying our secrets at every opportunity she got. It would have been counterproductive to her mission and our goals.”

“She was close to… _him_ , sir?” Harry asked surprised.

“Oh yes, she became closer to him far more than I could have ever dreamed of. He shared secrets with her that I don’t think he would have told anyone else. For a while, her information was saving lives, and he was none the wiser. But one day, she came to me terrified. You see, it was the very same day she found out that she was pregnant with you.” Dumbledore once again took a seat behind his desk.

“I told her that she should be rejoicing at the news. We could have always staged a little accident for her counterpart so she could be free to be able to have you. It was then that she told me how far she had truly gone to get her information for the order. I had thought it impossible, but not only had she found her way past even the closest of the inner circle, but she had found her way into his bed.”

At his words, Harry’s eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There was no way that his mother would have ever slept with the Dark Lord, the very person who had tried to commit genocide of the muggles. “You’re joking. This is a sick joke professor.”

“If only I was, my jokes tend to be more on the lighter side of humor. I tell a great joke about a butterfly and a giant if you are interested later, but this is no joke. Your mother had told me that she did not know who your father was and was afraid that either one of them would find out. In the end, she never wanted to know the truth. I do not know why…” Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“But, it is obvious now who is. The line of Salazar was known for carrying the Naga trait, and the Potter family never once mixed with a Slytherin. I am sorry to say my boy, but Voldemort is in fact your father.”

Harry did not move. He was still waiting for someone to pop out of the corner saying “Surprise! It’s all a big joke!” but no one popped out from behind a curtain or from under a table. There was no one else except Dumbledore and him in the large office. What was he supposed to do?

“I understand if you need some time to adjust Harry, but right now we have more pressing matters at hand,” Dumbledore said grimly. “I have suspicions that Voldemort will try to use the tournament in his resurrection. If _anything_ should happen, you must not let him know about your lineage. If he were to discover who you really are, he will use that against you. He will try to tempt you to fight against everything you know to be true until you don’t know who you are anymore,” Dumbledore warned Harry.

The room suddenly felt like it was suffocating him, and Harry did not want to be there anymore. “Sir, how do you know he is going to come back?” Harry asked.

With a twinkle in his eye, Dumbledore smiled sadly, “I have eyes and ears everywhere, Harry. You just need to trust me on this. Don’t worry, as long as you remain here at Hogwarts you will be perfectly safe.”

A while before Harry had arrived at the Headmaster’s office, Draco had hidden himself outside to wait for him. Although his friend had said he could have done this on his own, Draco wasn’t about to leave him without back up no matter how stubborn he was. Harry was supposed to arrive any moment now, and he would be sure to not give him any choice about letting him come along when he did.

Something made Draco jump out of his hiding spot however. An unnatural shadow crept its way down the stairs that lead towards the Headmaster’s office. It stuck to the walls as if there should have been a body standing next to it. It started walking along the hallway wall before quickly rising higher and seemed to fly down the hall and startling speeds.

Didn’t Salazar say that there was a dark shadow in Hogwarts? “Who knew he was being so literal,” Draco muttered to himself. With sudden Gryffindor courage, he raced after it as fast as his legs could carry him. It was hard to keep up with its speed but it was hard to miss the shutters coming from the paintings it passed.

He climbed up the Grand Staircase and soon he was at Gryffindor tower. His had reached out for the railing so he could catch his breath from running all the way up the stairs. The shadow had disappeared behind the portrait of the Fat Lady. There was no way any of the Gryffindors would let him inside no matter what he did. He couldn’t exactly lie his way in and there was no way they would believe the truth.

To his surprise, the portrait opened and out walked a familiar head of red hair.

“Malfoy,” Ron said coldly. “What are you doing here?”

“None of your business, weasel. I was just leaving,” Draco did not want to bother with an explanation or a confrontation, so he tried to turn around and walk the other way.

“It is my business actually. This is _my_ tower, and a traitorous Slytherin has no business being around here,” Ron glared venomously.

“Your tower? Have you gotten even more pig headed?” Draco laughed. “Looks like the Weasel has got some balls after all. When did those come in, yesterday? Your mommy finally proud that you hit puberty?” Draco couldn’t resist tormenting him, old habits die hard after all.

Instead of saying anything, Ron only smiled cruelly and quicker than Draco could have anticipated, shot a spell at him that should have been impossible for the young teenager to cast. Draco was flung backwards but he paid no notice. It was like every cell in his body was on fire and they were trying to rip their way out of him in an attempt to escape.

The curse was lifted and Draco found that the wind had been knocked out of him and he was a flight of stairs lower than what he had been. Ron had cast the cruciatus curse at him and it was definitely not unpracticed. “This is _my_ tower. You are not welcome here.” Ron hissed with his wand at his throat. “You will _stay away_ from here do you understand?”

With no air left in his lungs, Draco could only nod before passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave.  
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**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please tell me what you think!


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